


The Strongest Bonds are Forged in Fire

by HighlyOpinionatedNerd



Category: Gintama
Genre: Friends to Lovers, Gin and Hiji supporting each other through some very very scary times, I don't know how to rate this, I'm just not sure it'd warrant the graphic tag, M/M, Proceed with caution, because that's apparently all I ever write, contains Author's Ending, learning how to ask for help and how to give it in return :' ), there will also be lots of mature language, there will definitely be violence!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-02
Updated: 2018-01-30
Packaged: 2019-02-26 16:03:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 24,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13239219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HighlyOpinionatedNerd/pseuds/HighlyOpinionatedNerd
Summary: Gintoki and Hijikata are kidnapped and taken off Earth. They find themselves forced to literally fight for their lives every day, waiting for a rescue that might never come. If they want to survive, the only ones they can rely on are each other.





	1. If It Sounds Too Good to be True, It Probably Is

Not every war is fought on the open field. Wars are fought in every kind of environment, everywhere. Sometimes they are fought with weapons, sometimes with money, sometimes just with words.

And just as there are different kinds of wars, there are different kinds of warriors to fight them. But whether they fight from within a tank or simply with their own two fists, they are all mostly the same. They are warriors, and warriors have but one purpose; to fight.

Peace cannot exist without war. And war cannot exist without there first having been peace. It’s an endless cycle, that’s been repeating itself since the dawn of civilization.

Those who fight the wars are the ones who keep the cycle moving forward. As long as there is a war to be fought, there will be warriors to fight in it. And as long as they survive, there is a chance that they may one day experience the next peace.

So they fight. The weak die in the war.

But the strong survive.

 

Gintoki had a bad day at the pachinko hall that day. As usual. But that didn’t mean he was any less upset about it. He was tired of waiting for his lucky break to finally come.

He’d stayed later than he meant to; the sun was receding out of sight behind the city skyline. There weren’t a lot of pedestrians out and about, since most of them were at home, already sitting down to dinner.

Gintoki kicked angrily at a stray pebble on the sidewalk. He had really wanted to bring home some real food for once. Kagura and Shinpachi would say that they were fine with anything, but he knew that they were as tired as he was of eating the same cheap food every night.

He sighed to himself as the street lamps around him started flickering to life, one after the other. Starting tomorrow, he’d have to redouble his efforts to find work, or pretty soon they wouldn’t have anything to eat at all…

“Psst, hey. Hey, mister. Hey, you there!”

“Hm?” Gintoki paused and looked around.

“Yeah, you!” The one calling out to him was a short figure wearing a hooded cloak, waving to him from the mouth of a nearby alley. “Come over here, I’ve got something to tell you.”

“Not interested,” Gintoki grumbled, and resumed walking.

The stranger shrugged. “Suit yourself. If you’re happy with the way things are now, who am I to try and change anything.”

Gintoki stopped again, just past the alley. He had been through so much stupid crap that had started exactly like this. He really didn’t want to get involved in anything troublesome unnecessarily… but if he didn’t do anything now, who knew what might happen later…

He sighed again.

“Ok, ok, I’ll bite,” he said, backing up. “What is it?”

“And here I thought you weren’t interested,” the cloaked figure said teasingly. The cloak’s hood was pulled down low, covering most of his face. All Gintoki could make out underneath the dark fabric was a hint of reptilian skin and a smile filled with too-sharp teeth.

An amanto, then. Gintoki scowled. Another bad omen. “Are you going to tell me, or not? I haven’t got all day.”

“Here, take this,” the stranger said, offering him a small, folded slip of paper.

Gintoki took it and unfolded it; written on the inside, in green ink, was a single address, and nothing else. “What’s this?”

“Go there tomorrow, at 1 o’clock. There’s going to be a competition, and if you win, you get a cash prize. You could be a millionaire.”

Gintoki blinked. “A what?”

“You heard me. It’s not open to everybody, but you look like a man who could use a few bucks, eh? And besides that,” he added, gesturing to the wooden sword hanging at Gintoki’s side, “you seem like you know how to handle yourself.”

“What kind of competition is it?”

Beneath the hood, the sharp smile widened. “Well, you’ll just have to come tomorrow and find out, won’t you.” The stranger turned and started walking away, deeper into the dark alleyway. “If you’re interested, that is.”

Gintoki was left alone, the evening steadily darkening around him, with that single slip of paper in his hand.

 

He went home and threw the paper away without telling Shinpachi or Kagura about it. He didn’t want to trouble them with it, especially since he didn’t intend to get any further involved.

But he kept thinking about it. He didn’t want to admit it, even to himself, but he was incredibly curious. And he couldn’t help thinking, what if there wasn’t anything malicious at work here? What if he was missing out on a great opportunity here?

He stayed up pretty late wondering about it, thinking himself in circles. And in the morning, when he couldn’t stand it any longer, he dug the paper out of the trash.

The address led him to an older district on the waterfront, where there was nothing but empty shipping containers and run-down warehouses. Or so he’d thought- but sure enough, there were a few men lingering outside the door to what he was sure was the building from the address.

Gintoki approached them, wondering if he was acting against his better judgement. But his curiosity was intensifying every second, and he’d come too far to turn back now.

Most of the men outside the mysterious warehouse turned out to be guards, immediately identifiable as much by their attitudes as by the weapons displayed obviously and unapologetically.

“Hey,” one of them grunted as Gintoki came closer, stepping sideways to block his path, “no entry without an invitation.”

“Invitation? What, you mean this?” He held up the paper with the address on it.

The guard took it from him and squinted at it for a few seconds. Then he nodded, apparently satisfied, and stepped back. Another, smaller man moved in to take his place, holding out his hand expectantly.

“Your sword, please,” he said in a high, nasally voice.

Gintoki blinked. “What for?”

“No outside weapons allowed,” he snapped impatiently. “If you want to go in, you have to leave your sword with us.”

“But that’s ridiculous. What do you expect me to do in there without my sword?”

“Sir, I really must insist-”

“No, I’m not giving you my sword until you give me a good reason to! Why don’t you explain exactly what-”

“Is there a problem here, gentlemen?”

Gintoki groaned internally, recognizing the voice. “None of your concern, Hijikata,” he said, turning and scowling at the Shinsengumi vice captain.

Hijikata scowled right back at him. “Really. Because it kinda sounded to me like there was a problem over here, Yorozuya.”

“Yeah, well, there’s not. Go away. What are you doing all the way out here anyway?”

Hijikata hesitated a moment, then reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, folded slip of paper. “I have an invitation.”

“I’ll take that,” the nasal-voiced man said, reaching around Gintoki for Hijikata’s paper. “Leave your sword with me before entering, please.”

Hijikata looked knowingly at Gintoki. “Oh, so that’s what all the fuss is about.”

“Wha- well, are you going to just give them _yours_?”

“Yes, actually, I am,” Hijikata said, already reaching down to untie the scabbard from his belt. “Here you go. I can pick it up here on my way out?”

“Yes, sir. You’re free to enter.”

“Thanks.”

Cursing under his breath, Gintoki hurriedly pulled out his wooden sword and pushed it towards the nasal-voiced man. “Here.”

“Thank you sir.”

“Fuck you!”

He ducked through the open warehouse door and found himself in a long, dimly lit hallway. 

Hijikata was waiting for him a little ways down, frowning accusatively.

“What’s your connection to this place, Yorozuya?”

“Hm? I don’t have one. Or rather, I’m here to find out if I have one?” He shrugged and continued down the hall. “I have to say though, I didn’t really expect to see you here.”

“I’m here on business,” Hijikata hissed, falling into step beside him. “You should get out of here while you can.”

“Afraid to fight me for real, Hijikata?”

“What? No, but what does that have to do with anything?”

The hallway ended, and they emerged into a huge room, just as dimly lit as the hallway. There were a few other people milling around inside, but other than that it was completely, utterly empty.

Hijikata and Gintoki exchanged puzzled looks.

“What did you say you were here for, exactly?” Gintoki asked.

“I received a tip off that I would find a large-scale drug operation here. I came to check it out, and see if I needed to come back with backup…”

“That’s completely different than what I was told.”

“Did you get your ‘invitation’ from a short guy in a hood?”

“Yeah, exactly.”

“Huh.” Hijikata crossed his arms, surveying the room again. “Well, it seems that someone’s been lying to us. The only question now, is why.”

Gintoki opened his mouth to answer, but he never got the chance.

Because at that precise moment, the floor dropped out from underneath their feet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hijikata: "it's my duty to investigate any suspicious thing that might cause harm to the people." Gintoki: "I know it's a pain but the suspense is KILLING ME."
> 
> Hello and welcome to my latest Gintama fic! Sorry for ending this chapter in such a weird place. The sooner the plot set up is done, the sooner can move on to the action! I hope you'll enjoy it!


	2. Never Disagree With a Man Carrying a Loaded Gun

Hijikata awoke with a throbbing pain in his head, and he didn’t remember how it had gotten there.

Blearily, he sat up and looked around. It was very dark, but he could make out the vague shapes of other people around him, all of them lying prone on the ground.

It was coming back to him now- He’d received that tipoff, he’d gone to the warehouse, and met the silver-haired Yorozuya, and then….oh yeah. They’d fallen through that trapdoor. It must have been a long fall, to knock him out like that.

He squinted around him till he located a familiar pattern of swirling white and blue. “Oy,” he said, prodding at Gintoki’s back, “get up.”

Gintoki shifted a little and mumbled something incoherent under his breath.

“Get up,” Hijikata repeated, prodding him again. “We have a situation on our hands.”

“Mmmm?” Gintoki rolled over onto his back and opened his eyes. “Mmmmmragh. Ugh. My head hurts.”

“Mine too.”

“Where even are we? Are we like, underground or something?”

“I don’t know. Maybe.”

Gintoki sat up properly and ran a hand over the ground in a wide, sweeping motion. “Cement,” he remarked. “Or something. Probably underground. Can’t have been out too long, then.”

“I’m going to try to wake the others,” Hijikata said, struggling to his feet. Everything ached, and his right ankle hurt. He’d probably landed on it in his fall.

“Ok. I’ll go check around. Maybe I can find a way out of here.”

“Do you really think it’ll be that easy?”

“No, but it can’t hurt to try, right?”

Hijikata sighed. “Alright. Here, take this.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out his mayo-shaped cigarette lighter. “Try not to use all of it up, we might need it later.”

Gintoki took the lighter. “Thanks.”

Twenty minutes later, everyone was awake and alert, but they were no closer to escaping the predicament they found themselves in.

There turned out to be twelve men total in the room- some had suffered minor injuries in the fall, but nobody was seriously hurt. They had very little in common, apart from the fact that they had all received a slip of paper from a small, reptilian amanto, who promised them each something different awaiting them at the warehouse. 

The room they were in was roughly the same size as the empty room they’d been in before they’d fallen. The floor was made of cement slabs, the walls of smooth metal. There was one large door in the room, but it was triple locked and far too dense for them to break down, even if they all worked together.

“Well, shit,” Gintoki said, kicking at the door angrily. “Maybe there’s like, some bolts we can unscrew or something…”

“You’d have more luck trying to climb the wall with your bare hands.”

“At least I’m trying, over here! What do you think we should do then, just sit here in the dark until- woah!”

Gintoki sprang away from the door as it slowly began to swing inwards, revealing four men standing in the doorway. One carryed a lit wooden torch. The other three were aiming some strange, deadly-looking guns at them.

“You are our prisoners,” one of the armed men said, in a thick accent. “It is pointless to resist. Come along quietly.”

“Like hell!” shouted one of the men behind Hijikata, roughly pushing his way to the front. “I ain’t going anywhere with the likes of- argh!”

“I am not inclined to repeat myself,” the accented man snapped, the barrel of his gun smoking acridly. “The rest of you will follow me, or I will kill you as well.”

Without another word, he spun on his heel and started walking back the way he’d come.

Gintoki looked at Hijikata and raised an eyebrow. “ _Think we can take ‘em?_ ” he asked silently.

Hijikata shook his head minutely. “ _Do what they say, for now_ ,” he answered as best as he could.

He turned back to the front and set off after the retreating torchlight. Gintoki followed him, and the rest of them followed Gintoki. They left the dead man, a gaping, incinerated hole in his chest, behind.

 

Their captors led them through a twisting maze of dark tunnels. Hijikata tried to memorize their path, but he soon gave up. There wasn’t really much of a point, anyway, since he knew no exit lay behind them.

Eventually they emerged into another large room, with the same metal walls and cement floor. There were several more doors leading out of this room, and it was illuminated by several more torches placed in brackets along each wall.

Waiting for them was a whole crowd of people- men and women of many diverse species, all of them watching the prisoners expectantly.

“Line up,” one of the armed guards barked at them, gesturing with his weapon. Hijikata and the others hurried to comply.

“Oh my,” said one of the women in the crowd, a tall, thin amanto with long, twisting horns. “Eleven, this time. A bountiful harvest indeed.”

“Name your price,” grunted a man with red skin and a metal arm.

“Bidding begins at two thousand each,” the accented man who’d led them there said curtly.

The crowd murmured among themselves and moved forward to more closely inspect the prisoners. Occasionally one of them reached out a hand to turn one of the men’s heads or lift their arms.

One man broke from the crowd and headed straight for Hijikata and Gintoki. He could have been human, but for an extra pair of eyes.

“You are Hijikata Toshirou and Sakata Gintoki, are you not?” he asked them. His voice was low and so quiet that it was almost lost in the sounds of the crowd.

“Do we know you?” Gintoki retaliated harshly.

“No. But I know you. I’ve done my research, you see… the one, vice captain of the local police force and the other, a veteran of the war for Earth’s independence.”

“What does it matter to you?” Hijikata said, narrowing his eyes, matching the other’s tone.

The stranger smiled at them, revealing a pair of long, sharp canines. “Auctioneer,” he called, raising his voice a little.

The crowd’s chatter immediately quieted. “Yes, Sir?” the guard responded, hurrying over to them.

“I will take these two. I will pay four thousand each. Unless, of course, there are any objections?” He paused a second, but none of the others spoke up. “Very well then. I will take them now. You shall receive payment within the hour.”

“Yes, Sir.” The guard-the auctioneer- bowed low. “My men will have them properly restrained for you in just a-”

“That will not be necessary,” the stranger said, his eyes flicking back and forth between Hijikata and Gintoki.

“Very good, Sir.”

“Thank you. You two, you will follow me now.” He turned and began walking towards one of the doors.

Hijikata and Gintoki did as they were told and followed him. His tone had hardly left room for any argument- his words and actions both practically oozed confidence and authority. One of the other guards fell in behind them, keeping his weapon trained on their backs.

The door opened onto more tunnels, through which they walked in silence. Hijikata thought that he could feel a slight upward incline in the floor now, but it was hard to be sure.

They walked for perhaps fifteen minutes, maybe more. Then the tunnel they were in came to an abrupt end, and they went through another door and into another room, this one completely different than all the ones before.

It was brightly lit and full of busy people. It looked somewhat familiar to Hijikata in a vague sense, but he couldn’t think of the reason why.

“This way,” the four-eyed stranger instructed. In the light his skin was pale, his hair dark and straight. His two sets of eyes blinked independently of each other, which was extremely disconcerting for some reason.

He led them down a hallway, up a couple floors in an elevator, down another hallway, and through another door...into a docking bay.

 _Now_ Hijikata realized why this had felt familiar. They were in the O-Edo Central Terminal, the enormous building from which spaceships launched and in which they were kept while on Earth. He’d only been in here a couple of times himself.

The ship he and Gintoki found themselves being led towards now was absolutely huge. It was streamlined and aerodynamic in construction, seemingly the perfect combination of style and maneuverability. It’s intricately-patterned blue and silver exterior shone with fresh polish.

The guard behind them stopped and held position at the bay door, but the amanto in front of them kept walking towards the ship, and so they kept following. They followed him up a landing ramp and into the ship, into a bright and impeccably clean corridor.

“Now then,” the amanto said, finally stopping, turning to face them once again. His voice was just as quiet as it had been in the tunnels, just as calm and refined as ever. “My name is Lord Aldaris, and I expect you to address me as such. This ship, the _Kali_ is your new home.”

“Excuse me?” Gintoki demanded, clearly becoming frustrated.

“The two of you belong to me now,” Aldaris stated simply.

“Now, hold on a minute!” Gintoki took a menacing step forward.

“You can’t just do that,” Hijikata agreed, balling his fists. “Slavery is-ah!”

Aldaris made a slight gesture with one hand, and suddenly they found themselves restrained by strong arms, more guards having approached them silently from behind.

“Is what, Hijikata-san? Ilegal?” Aldaris leaned in, raising a thin eyebrow. “On Earth, perhaps it is. But we will not be on Earth much longer. Additionally, I don’t remember offering you a choice.”

“You bastard,” Gintoki yelled, struggling against the guards holding him back.

“Take them away,” Aldaris said mildly, turning his back on them. “I shall see you soon enough, humans.”

“Wait,” Hijikata called, “Stop!” But the amanto didn’t turn around again, and the guards were dragging him backwards, and the landing ramp closed behind them, sealing them inside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aldaris was just supposed to in here for a quick second, but then things kinda got away from me and he ended up becoming something of a fully fledged oc. I hope I can fit him in somewhere again later.
> 
> The _Kali_ 's name comes from an Indonesian word, that google translate tells me has the dual meaning of "time" and "river". I don't actually speak Indonesian (yet) but I thought that was fascinating, and I hope it's accurate. That's all for now, thanks for reading chapter 2!


	3. Those Who Fear Are Lost

Gintoki struggled hard against the two guards holding him, but to no avail. He and Hijikata were dragged deeper into Aldaris’ ship, kicked, pushed, shoved, and finally thrown headfirst through a doorway to land on the floor.

Gintoki scrambled to his feet as quickly as he could and turned back, ready to charge the guards head on, but stopped short when he saw that his path was now blocked by a crackling forcefield filling the doorway in lieu of a door.

Aldaris’ men watched them, safe beyond the forcefield. One of them leaned over and whispered in another’s ear, and they both laughed a little.

Gintoki snarled wordlessly at them. He was angry now, incredibly angry. He’d been through a lot of horrible things in his time- insults, indignities, and injuries alike- but never anything like this. No one had ever claimed to _own_ him before.

The guards weren’t very intimidated. Still chuckling among themselves, they turned and left the way they had come.

“Shit,” Gintoki swore. He’d seen forcefields like this one before- they carried enough electrical charge to kill a human being on contact.

“This isn’t good,” Hijikata said, getting to his feet. He gingerly touched a hand to a swollen lip, likely the result of taking a guard’s elbow to the face. “I should have realized sooner…we missed our best chance to get away. It’ll be nearly impossible to escape if we’re in space.”

“Well, there’s got to be a way! We can’t just give up, we’ve got to-”

“Calm down, Yorozuya.”

“Excuse me if I don’t feel very calm right now, Hijikata!”

“I know,” Hijikata said quietly, putting a hand on Gintoki’s shoulder. “I feel the same way. But we’re not going to get anywhere by freaking out. We have to stay in control, we have to be rational about this.”

Gintoki took a deep breath. If Hijikata could keep his cool in this mess of a situation, then he could too. “Ok. Ok. You’re right. It’s just...I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it. Let’s just try to find out everything we can, alright?”

“Alright.”

Reminding himself to keep breathing slowly and evenly, Gintoki turned around and surveyed the latest in a series of strange rooms he’d been in that day.

It was an absolutely huge open space, with a low ceiling and too many corners. Although the rest of what they’d seen of Aldaris’ ship had been brightly lit and impeccably clean, this room was dim and dingy. There were several other people in with them, most of them men, all of them amanto.

“Only one door,” Gintoki remarked sullenly. “No windows or anything, either. Why’s it so cold in here?”

“Probably to keep people uncomfortable. We do the same thing in the Shinsengumi holding cells.”

“Right, good to know. If arrested, bring a jacket, got it.”

Hijikata frowned at him. “Ha ha, very funny. I’m gonna go ask some questions, see what these people have to say for themselves. You coming?”

“Sure.”

The nearest amanto to them was very big and covered in shaggy brown fur. Gintoki would have hesitated to approach him even under normal circumstances, but Hijikata walked right up to him with the kind of confidence that only comes from years of working as a policeman.

“Excuse me,” he said, stopping a few paces in front of the other prisoner. “We’re, uh, new here. We were wondering if you could tell us…well, anything, really.”

Slowly, the amanto raised his head and took a long look at Hijikata. “...A shame,” he said thickly around a pair of short, dull tusks. “So young, to be here.”

“Where exactly is here?”

“This how they call Deck Zero. Below rest of ship, under the feet of others.”

“We want to find a way off this ship,” Hijikata explained quietly. “Do you think you could help us?”

The amanto shook his head sorrowfully. “Is no escape. Now you battle slave.”

“I refuse to accept that.”

“Is no escape.” The amanto glanced at Gintoki, who was watching the exchange over Hijikata’s shoulder. “Is best not get attached. Aldaris, sometime he make own slaves fight either other.” With that, he turned away from them again.

Gintoki opened his mouth to say something, probably something sarcastic about pessimism, but Hijikata stopped him with a look.

“Thank you for your time,” he said. Then he motioned to Gintoki, and the two of them retreated into an unoccupied corner.

“Well, that guy was super helpful,” Gintoki muttered as soon as they were out of earshot.

“He said ‘battle slave’. You heard that, right? Aldaris is making these people fight for him. For _entertainment_.”

“Hey, we’re supposed to be remaining calm,” Gintoki reminded him. “Try, I don’t know, looking on the bright side? At least we’re kind of good at fighting, and he doesn’t want us to bake for him.”

“You’re not helping,” Hijikata snapped, rubbing his temples with both hands. “I’m not seeing a way out of this, Yorozuya. What if there really isn’t any escape, and we end up stuck here forever?”

“Hey,” Gintoki said, putting a hand on Hijikata’s shoulder, “hey, don’t talk like that. If we give up, like that furry guy over there, we’ll never survive this. I’ve got people waiting for me at home, and I know you do too, so we are not giving up, ok?”

Hijikata lowered his hands from his face and looked Gintoki in the eyes. He looked afraid, more afraid than Gintoki had ever seen him, but he nodded. “I know. I know.”

Suddenly, the lights dimmed altogether around them, leaving them in total darkness illuminated only by the faint glow of the electrical forcefield.

“What’s going on?”

“Some ships have automated day and night cycles that mimic life on the ground.”

“It’s night already?”

“I guess so. We were unconscious for a while, remember?”

“Well,” Gintoki said, squinting at Hijikata in the dark, “maybe we should take that as a hint and try to sleep. Can’t get anything done in the dark, anyway.”

“...Good point. I don’t like it, but I guess we don’t have much of a choice.”

Hijikata knelt and then laid down on the ground, and Gintoki moved to position himself next to him.

“What are you doing?”

“Uh,” Gintoki said, realizing he’d acted out of instinct. “It’s not safe here, right? So, we sleep back to back, and that way if anyone tries to attack one of us in the night, the other one will feel it right away.”

“Oh. That’s…that’s really smart, actually.”

“Mm.” Gintoki laid back down. “It’s not my first time sleeping behind enemy lines,” he muttered. Their situation was bringing back a lot of old memories he thought he’d successfully buried a long time ago. Memories he would rather have forgotten altogether.

“We’re going to get out of this, Yorozuya. We’re definitely going to get back, somehow.”

“Yeah. Definitely.”

Gintoki closed his eyes, remembering the fear on Hijikata’s face, and he wondered how much fear the other man had seen reflected in his own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The way I see it, Gintoki has two ways of dealing with stressful situations: Panic, and Morbid Humor. Hijikata only has one, which is to bottle all his emotions up and pretend he's fine, until it all gets to be too much and he breaks down.
> 
> PS I'll try to keep updating quickly like I have been, but spring semester starts for me in a week and I have, uhhhhhh, auditions I need to prepare for ;__; thank you for your continued attention to my ramblings, it is most appreciated


	4. Familiarity Doesn't Always Breed Contempt

Hijikata was awoken in the morning by a guard, standing outside the forcefield and hollering at them, banging his fist on the wall.

“Line up!” he shouted, and the other slaves hurried to comply.

Hijikata sat up and swatted at Gintoki. Again. He was a surprisingly deep sleeper.

“Mmmmm...what is it now?”

“Food, I think.”

“Food?” That got Gintoki up in a hurry. “I’m starving! Let’s go!”

He hurried to join the line, dragging Hijikata behind him. None of the other slaves acknowledged them.

When they were all in line, the guard deactivated the forcefield and entered the room. Several others followed him in, most of them aiming those strange guns at the slaves, the rest pushing carts laden with plates and containers of food.

Hijikata and Gintoki waited patiently at the back of the line for their turn to be served. The guards raised their eyebrows upon seeing them, but didn’t speak to them. Once the cart-pushers had given everyone a plate, the guards left, reactivating the forcefield behind themselves.

Gintoki led the way back to their corner, Hijikata trailing behind. His ankle still hurt from the fall he’d taken the day before.

The plates were white, round, and not especially clean. The contents of the plate were brown, gloopy, and not especially appetizing. 

“What is this?” Gintoki said, prodding carefully at his plate with his finger.

“I have no idea,” Hijikata replied, sniffing cautiously. “Are the others eating it?”

“Yeah. That guy over there is already done.”

“Well, alright then.”

They scooped some of the goey mush onto their fingers and transferred it to their mouths. It tasted as bad as it looked. Which was to say, awful.

But they ate it all anyway. Neither of them had eaten anything since lunch the day before, and there was no guarantee they’d be getting anything else anytime soon.

The various amanto stacked their empty plates by the door, and the two humans followed their example.

Sometime while they had slept, the _Kali_ had taken off. They could feel the soft rumble of the engines through the floor.

Hijikata was trying not to think about it. He’d only been off Earth a few times before, but it had been enough to convince him that he utterly hated flying. He preferred to keep his feet on the ground, where they belonged.

 

All was quiet on Deck Zero. For the most part, each slave kept to themselves. Most of them sat around, not doing much. Some paced, some moved around the open space in the center of the room, but none of them ever interacted with each other unless it absolutely couldn’t be avoided.

“I wonder how long this has been going on,” Gintoki said quietly. “There’s like, an established thing going on here. For all we know, Aldaris could have been kidnapping people like he did with us for years.”

“He probably has.”

“Aren’t there, like, space police? Why hasn’t he been caught?”

“If space works anything like Edo, it’s probably because he’s wealthy.”

“Is he?”

“He’d have to be, to have a ship this fancy and to keep all these people captive.”

“Hm. When we get away, we’ll have to tell the space police about this.”

“You wanna hear my theory?”

“About what?”

“The little lizard amanto, the ones that gave us the ‘invitations.’ I bet they have some kind of telepathic abilities. They tell you what you want to hear, so you fall into the trap.”

“Oh that’s dirty. Makes sense though, since all of us heard different things.”

“Further evidence for the space police.”

“Damn straight. I’m building a full-out lawsuit over here.”

The ghost of a smile flashed across Hijikata’s face. He’d never imagined that having Gintoki, of all people, with him would be a comfort. But it was. If he’d been in this alone, he didn’t know how long he would have  
survived.

“And just who are you going to get to argue this lawsuit for you, exactly?”

“Space lawyers, Hijikata. But if they don’t want to take the case, I’ll do it myself. I’m very serious about this.”

“Uh huh.”

“I am! Just you wait. You’re a key witness.” The corner of his mouth twitched upwards. “And when we win that lawsuit, we’re going to charge whatever we want. We’ll be space-rich at this bastard’s expense.”

“I don’t think that’s how it works.”

“Maybe not. But maybe it does, you don’t know.”

“You’re ridiculous.”

“Thank you.”

Hijikata wondered if Gintoki was comforted by his presence, too. He wondered if someone like Gintoki even needed that kind of emotional support. Hijikata wouldn’t have imagined he did, knowing what he did about Gintoki’s history. But perhaps there was more to the silver-haired samurai than he had guessed, after all.

“Do you want to hear my theory about what was in our breakfast?”

“Absolutely not, never speak of it again.”

Hijikata laughed at that. He couldn’t help it, and after a minute Gintoki joined in. It was just the two of them, laughing together in the otherwise silent deck, and it gave Hijikata hope that all was not yet lost.

 

The rest of the day passed slowly and uneventfully. In the evening, they were fed again, and then another night cycle began. It was harder to sleep this time, without the fatigue of the first day weighing on them, but eventually they did. Back to back, just as the night before.

And in the morning, they were woken again for breakfast, and the whole cycle repeated again. Three days went by, and nothing happened.

Sometime in the middle of the fourth day, more guards appeared outside the forcefield, demanding they line up. Hijikata and Gintoki exchanged curious looks, but they knew better by now than to disobey an order.

Once they were lined up properly, the guards deactivated the forcefield as usual. But this time they did not bring food. This time they moved up and down the line, watching the slaves carefully, dismissing some and passing over others.

When only about half the slaves remained in line, they were instructed to march. The guards marched them out the door, through a series of corridors, and stopped them outside another door.

Hijikata thought he knew what was happening. The thought made him more nervous than he would have liked to admit.

It seemed that he and Gintoki were about to figure out what it truly meant to be one of Aldaris’ battle slaves.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't realize going into this exactly how long this fic is going to be. It might go on for quite a while! Starting next chapter we might start jumping around a bit as far as perspectives go, and all that, so I hope you guys will be flexible with me! We're getting closer to the really good stuff!!!


	5. Willpower is Sometimes Just as Important as Skill

“No, I don’t have an appointment,” Shinpachi said, trying hard to remain patient. “I told you, I’m just looking for information.”

“Well, there’s not much I can do for you unless you have an appointment,” shrugged the receptionist at the front desk of the Shinsengumi headquarters. Shinpachi doubted that very many people came in here, especially considering the receptionist’s decidedly unhelpful attitude. They’d been arguing with him for at least ten minutes now.

“Enough!” Kagura banged a fist on the desk. “Why don’t you make yourself useful and go fetch Kondo, or Toshi.”

“Ma’am, please, don’t-”

“We’re not leaving until we get what we came here for!”

“Kagura-chan, calm down!”

“What’s all the fuss about out here?”

Shinpachi turned to see both Kondo and Okita walking towards them and heaved a sigh of relief. Finally, someone who’d listen to them.

“What’s got you all worked up, China Girl?” Okita asked Kagura in his typical, teasing tone.

“Kondo-san,” Kagura said, ignoring Okita completely, “Gin-chan is missing.”

“Missing?” Kondo raised an eyebrow. “That doesn’t sound like him. Are you sure he isn’t just, you know, having some adult time to himself?”

“He’s been gone for almost four days now,” Shinpachi explained. “He would have said something to us if he intended to be gone that long. This is longer than he’s ever been gone before! We came to ask if the Shinsengumi happened to know anything about this.”

“Well, I haven’t heard anything about it. Have you, Sogou?”

“No. Hijikata-san might have heard something, but no one has seen him since…” He frowned. “It’s been almost exactly four days.”

“He still hasn’t been back?” Kondo crossed his arms. “That is strange. But, it still could be just a coincidence.”

“Coincidence or not, Gin-san is still missing. Can’t you get your people to at least look into it?”

“Of course, Shinpachi-kun. We’ll get on it right away, and if we learn anything, you’ll be the first to know.”

“O-ok...thanks.”

Kondo nodded and walked away, Okita following him. Shinpachi and Kagura left the building, and emerged back onto the brightly lit and bustling Edo street outside.

“I don’t like this, Shinpachi,” Kagura said quietly. “I have a really bad feeling about this whole thing.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean.” Shinpachi pushed up his glasses and rubbed his eyes, thinking hard. He didn’t want to panic and lose his head unless they knew for certain that something was wrong, but he also didn’t just want to leave the matter in the Shinsengumi’s hands. There had to be something they could do…

“Come on, Kagura-chan. We’re going go see Katsura-san. If there’s anything going on in this city, I’m sure he’d know about it.”

“Zura? You know how to find him?”

“I think so.”

“Then let’s go!”

 

The room Gintoki and Hijikata were herded into, along with the other slaves in line, wasn’t really a room at all. It was more like an arena, and it was hard to believe that it was located on board a starship.

It must have been at least two decks high, for one thing. It was circular in shape, like an old Roman gladiator arena. The floor was coated in what appeared to be a deep layer of greenish sand. There was a wall around the outside, easily ten feet high at least. It was dented in places, and stained with the blood of a dozen different species. 

Beyond the wall, there was audience seating. It seemed that everyone had come to watch the fight; from crewmen of every rank and position to high-profile guests aboard the _Kali_ (judging from their apparel and attitude).

Aldaris himself was there, too. His pale skin and many golden accessories stood out from the crowd. He was staring down at them with an almost bored look on his face.

The guards shoved the last of the slaves roughly through the door, then instructed them to spread out along the wall.

Gintoki was afraid. Most of the other slaves were a lot bigger than him, and likely all of them were more experienced in this kind of situation than he was. And if he refused to fight, or displeased the audience in any way, he’d probably be shot by one of the guards. Right now his chances of surviving and escaping seemed to be at an all time low.

“Hey,” Hijikata said quietly from his place next to Gintoki on the outskirts of the arena, “I don’t think they’re going to give us any weapons.”

“Oh shit, I think you’re right.” Gintoki looked around quickly, but no swords materialized themselves out of thin air beside him. “What are we going to do?”

“Use our fists, I guess.”

“Ok.” Gintoki took a deep breath, trying hard not to panic. “Ok. If we work together, maybe we can pull this off. Right?”

“R-right. Right.”

Out in the audience section, Aldaris stood. Gintoki felt the entire arena tense, all eyes going to Aldaris as he slowly raised his hand above his head. 

“Begin,” he said simply, his hand swishing down through the air like an executioner’s blade.

Almost before the word had left his mouth, the slaves exploded into motion, most of them running on a collision course straight to the center of the arena. The crowd began to cheer excitedly.

Gintoki and Hijikata moved closer together, watching the fight from afar. It was brutal; the other slaves attacked one another with fists, claws, hooves, horns, and teeth, no holds barred.

After a few moments, one of them broke from the mess at the center and ran towards them; a big amanto with too-long arms. The grin on his face seemed to imply that he thought the two humans would be easy prey.

Scared as he was, Gintoki didn’t have any intention of being anyone’s prey. He took a shaky deep breath, pushed away his fears, and leapt at the amanto, planting a foot hard into his chest.

The amanto was pushed back, but didn’t fall. He growled and swung a fist at Gintoki, who ducked just in time. Hijikata sprang up behind Gintoki and caught their attacker by surprise with a punch to the face. This time he went down, and Gintoki kicked him in the ribs to make sure he’d stay that way.

But by then, he and Hijikata had attracted the attention of the others. Several more amanto were running at them.

“Stay close,” Gintoki yelled to Hijikata. Then he took another breath, put up his fists, and threw himself back into it.

It was one of the hardest, scariest, toughest fights of his entire life. Gintoki wasn’t good at bare-handed combat, and he took nearly as many blows as he dealt out. But he fought on, determined that he was not going to die here.

Suddenly, he heard a cry of pain from somewhere behind him. He turned to see Hijikata drop to one knee, gritting his teeth, raising an arm to protect himself.

“Hijikata!” Gintoki hurried to move closer, to fend off those closest to the injured man. But more and more of them kept coming for him, and he knew he couldn’t keep them all back forever…

But just when he thought for sure he and Hijikata were done for, they heard a voice call out over the noise of the crowd. “Halt!” it said, and amazingly enough, everyone did.

The slaves fell back from Gintoki, and put their fists down. Gintoki cautiously followed suit, and when no one jumped him, he leaned down to help Hijikata to his feet.

“Are you ok?”

“Twisted my fucking ankle in the sand,” Hijikata muttered, grimacing.

“Line up,” barked a guard. He sounded like the one who had stopped the fight. “Back to Deck Zero with you.”

The humans shuffled awkwardly into the line, Gintoki supporting Hijikata. “That was a fuckin’ nightmare. I thought we were both gonna die,” Gintoki confessed quietly.

“Hey, look on the bright side, remember? We didn’t.”

“Yeah.” Gintoki smiled. “I guess we didn’t.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This part of the story was influenced quite heavily by Marvel's Planet Hulk, which is a pretty fantastic arc. If you get the chance, I highly recommend you either read the comics or watch the animated version from like, '06 or '07. I feel like I'm not doing so hot with the descriptions of the arena and the fighting itself, so that'll give you a better idea what I'm trying to get across here.
> 
> Thank you for reading chapter 5!


	6. Fortune Favors Both the Brave and the Prepared

The line of bruised and bloody slaves followed the guards in silence back to Deck Zero. Hijikata leaned on Gintoki the whole way there. Gintoki could tell he was in pain. He was hiding it well, but not well enough to fool Gintoki, who’d been in the same situation plenty of times before.

Once they were back, the guards reactivated the forcefield and shut them in, just as usual. Gintoki guided Hijikata back to their corner and let him down as gently as he could.

“Let me see your foot.”

Hijikata groaned, sliding down the wall onto the floor and stretching out his legs in front of him. “It’s not broken, I don’t think.”

“Nah, doesn’t look like it,” Gintoki said, bending over Hijikata. “It’s pretty swollen, though. I guess we’ll have to-”

“Hey,” a voice interrupted him.

Gintoki turned around to see one of the other slaves, a tall, muscular woman with a buzzcut, standing behind him. She had a nasty bruise blooming on one cheek, and he wondered if he had been the one that put it there.

“Come with me,” she said curtly.

Gintoki glanced back at Hijikata, who nodded, then got up and followed the woman. She led him across the deck to the opposite wall, where a small cabinet was tucked away in another shadowy corner.

“Bandages and basic first aid,” she said, opening the door. “The blue stuff will cool the swelling. Don’t take more than you need.”

“Oh,” Gintoki said, reaching inside and grabbing a roll of bandages. “I had no idea this was here. Thanks.”

“Next time we fight each other,” she said menacingly, pushing her face close to his, “I will _destroy_ you.”

So, he probably had been the one to hit her earlier. “Uh, yes ma’am. Understood.”

She huffed angrily, but didn’t say anything else, just walked away, leaving Gintoki to gather medical supplies by himself.

“Where did that come from?” Hijikata asked when Gintoki returned.

“There’s a cabinet over there, it’s got plenty of stuff in it. Couldn’t find any pain killers, though, sorry.”

“It’s ok.” Hijikata winced a little as Gintoki started wrapping his hurt ankle. “Aldaris is smart. ‘If the slaves are given tools to help them heal, they’ll be able to fight again sooner.’ Fuck this guy.”

“My thoughts exactly. Ok, I don’t know how to work this blue goop, hang on a sec…”

“Sure. Hey, what do you think the chances are of uniting everyone here into rebellion?”

“Slim to none, man. I think the only thing that’s stopping fights from breaking out in here too, is the thought of making Aldaris angry. I mean, look at them, he has all of them whipped into this mindset of absolute solitude- oh hang on, I think I’ve got this- and I don’t think there’s a lot we could do to change that.”

“What, so you don’t even want to try?”

“I didn’t say that! How’s that, is that better?”

“It feels weird,” Hijikata said, rotating his ankle a little, “but I think it’s better, yeah. Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it.” Gintoki sighed and moved to lean up against the wall beside Hijikata. “Anyway, I’m not saying I don’t think we shouldn’t try to get some of the others on our side, I’m saying I don’t know if it’ll work. You just said yourself that this fucker is smart- he probably has us fight each other specifically for this reason.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right. Even if we did manage to get someone else on our side, we’d still have to fight them next time one of these things happens.”

“I wonder if Aldaris is mad that we worked together earlier. I mean, he’s got to have noticed.”

“If he was mad about it, somehow I think we would have heard about it already.”

“Hmm. You’re probably right.”

“You know who is mad though, is everyone else in this room. I think we might have made some enemies today.”

“Well, that’s not great.” Hijikata sighed and leaned his head back against the wall. “We need some kind of plan, we need to be smarter about this.”

“We will. But for right now, you just focus on getting better. Plans can come later, ok?”

“...Ok.”

Gintoki watched as Hijikata closed his eyes and began taking slow, regulated breaths. He hoped there wouldn’t be another fight for at least a few days. He was beginning to realize that there was no way he’d be able to handle it on his own.

He and Hijikata needed each other, now.

 

The rest of the day passed uneventfully. Little by little, whatever blue gel Gintoki had applied to his ankle slowly began to ease the pain, but it still hurt if Hijikata shifted it suddenly or tried to put any weight on it.

“Bad news, Hijikata,” Gintoki said, walking back over to him after leaving to line up for dinner. “The guards said they wouldn’t give me your food. They said that if you want to eat, you have to be in line yourself.”

“Oh.” Hijikata supposed he shouldn’t find that surprising, considering everything else they’d been through on this stupid ship. “Well, now we know, I guess.”

Gintoki grunted angrily, resuming his seat beside Hijikata. “Here, we can share this one.”

“No, you eat it. Missing a meal won’t kill me.”

“Maybe, but it won’t help you get better any faster will it? Just eat it.”

Hijikata sighed. Gintoki’s face said he wasn’t about to compromise on this, and there wasn’t much of a point in arguing about it anyway. “Ok. Thanks.”

“Mm.”

They were silent for a time, each lost in his own thoughts.

“Hey, Yorozuya...”

“What is it?”

“I was just thinking, the next time Aldaris picks up someone new, maybe we could get _them_ on our side. Before they have a chance to be corrupted by this place.”

Gintoki nodded slowly. “That’s not a bad idea, actually. But we have no idea how often that happens. It could be months. Hell, for all we know, it could be years, Hijikata.”

“Well, I guess we’ll just have to survive until then. Got a problem with that?”

“...No. No, I don’t.”

“Good. At least now we’ve got something of a plan.”

Gintoki shook his head, a little smile on his face. “Always plans with you. Are all the Shinsengumi like this?”

“Hey, it’s important!”

“I know, I know.” He set aside the now empty plate and spread his hands. “Alright, see, I’m listening.”

“You’re an asshole.”

“Yeah. Is that it, is that the whole plan? Is that how we’re going to win, just by using my assholeiness?”

Hijikata smiled in spite of himself. “Do you want to hear what I was thinking, or not?”

“Sure I do. Lay it on me.”

“Ok, here’s what I’ve got so far…”

The two of them stayed up well into the night cycle that night, bouncing ideas off each other and brainstorming how they’d handle themselves in the next fight. After a few hours, Hijikata had forgotten about the pain in his ankle completely.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If this chapter reads a little strangely, it's because I decided last minute to chop it up and take part of it out and make it into the beginning of next chapter. On the other hand, at least I've already got part of ch 7 written, so I'll be sure to post it soon!
> 
> For anyone interested, I drew some art from this fic. My art skills are virtually nonexistent, but it helps to get the ideas on paper sometimes. View said atrocious art here, if you are so inclined: https://highly-opinionated-nerd.tumblr.com/post/169719197001/two-characters-from-the-fic-im-currently-working
> 
> Thanks for reading, see you next time!


	7. Rules Were Made to be Broken

“That’s it, I’m completely out of ideas,” Shinpachi said, throwing his hands into the air.

“Surely there has to be something we haven’t tried.” Katsura crossed his arms and leaned over the map on the table in front of them, studying the pattern of multicolored pins stuck into it.

“Like what?” Kagura asked tiredly. “We’ve been at this all day, and we’re not much closer to finding out what happened to Gin-chan and Toshi than before.”

“Katsura-san, I really think we ought to take this back to the Shinsengumi. If what you said is true, and there is a possibility that they’ve been kidnapped, then I’m sure Kondo-san will help us.”

“Very well, if you insist.” Katsura straightened up, a determined look on his face. “Then, just give me a moment to change into my disguise, and we can-”

“Nononono, no, Katsura-san, that’s, um, that’s totally not necessary,” Shinpachi insisted, trying not to sound like he was panicking. “Kagura-chan and I can handle this, right?”

“Yeah. Zura, you stay here, just in case someone comes in with some news.”

“Alright, Leader, if you say so.” Katsura frowned. “Be careful, you two. If there’s something in this city capable of taking Gintoki, then none of us are safe.”

“We will be, Katsura-san. We’ll be back soon, and we’ll tell you what they said, I promise.”

Shinpachi and Kagura left Katsura’s latest hideout as inconspicuously as they could, double checking that no one was looking at them suspiciously. Then they turned and started making their way back to the Shinsengumi headquarters.

“Shinpachi, do you think Zura’s right? That Gin-chan’s been kidnapped?”

“I don’t know.” Shinpachi sighed. It had been a long day, running all over Edo, talking to what felt like every single person in Katsura’s information network, searching for malicious aliens that anyone had only ever heard rumors about. “But I think there’s a good chance that that might be the case.”

“Do you think Toshi is with him?”

“Maybe. Or it could be a coincidence, like Kondo-san said.”

“I hope they’re together,” Kagura said. She looked tired. “That way, when we find Gin-chan and get him back, we won’t have to go through all this again just to look for Toshi.”

Shinpachi smiled. It was cute that Kagura had never doubted that they’d be helping get Hijikata back as well. That was just the kind of person she was, sweet, and a little naive, and inherently good. She was constantly reminding him to be a better person, and he appreciated it.

“Well, if they’re together, who knows. They might escape before we even get there, if they work together.”

“They would. You know they only pretend not to like each other, right?”

“I…think it’s a little more complicated than that. But you’re right, they probably would help each other, if they could.”

“I just hope we find them soon. I just hope they’re ok.”

“Me too, Kagura-chan. Me too.”

 

It wasn’t a long walk from Katsura’s to the Shinsengumi Headquarters. Shinpachi was on edge the whole time, thought, constantly looking over his shoulder. He didn’t know exactly what he was supposed to be looking out for, and that only made him more nervous.

But they made it without incident. They walked through the front doors and up to the information desk, to find the same guy they’d argued with before sitting behind it.

“Listen,” Kagura said menacingly before the he had a chance to say anything, “just let us see Kondo, ok? We don’t want any trouble with you, but it’s important.”

“Just back through that door,” he said meekly, pointing.

“ _Thank_ you,” Kagura said, setting off in the indicated direction. Shinpachi followed, grimacing something of an apology to the desk worker as he passed.

Through the door they found Kondo and Yamazaki, who had evidently been going over some reports and hadn’t expected to be interrupted.

“Oh, Shinpachi-kun, Kagura-chan,” Kondo said somewhat awkwardly. Shinpachi could tell he wasn’t exactly please to see them. “Have you found-”

“No,” Kagura said, taking a step forward. “But we heard from….someone…that there’s been a lot of kidnappings recently.”

“Kidnappings? I haven’t heard anything about any unusual kidnappings.”

“Well, you might not have, if the Amanto are covering it up from you,” Shinpachi pointed out.

Kondo frowned. “Who told you about this?”

“We have our sources,” Kagura shrugged dismissively. “Anyway, the point is that it seems like only strong people are being targeted. Once they’re captured, they get taken off Earth and no one ever hears from them again.”

“Do you have any proof of this?” Yamazaki asked cautiously.

Shinpachi bit his lip. “Not exactly. But that doesn’t matter! Kondo-san, both Gin-san and Hijikata-san fit the description, and both have been missing for days now. That should be enough to prompt at least an investigation, right?”

“Well…” Kondo and Yamazaki exchanged uneasy looks. “I’m sorry, Shinpachi-kun, Kagura-chan. But I don’t think the Shinsengumi will be able to help you with this.”

“What?!” Kagura demanded, balling her fists. “But we brought you a legit concern! Isn’t it your _job_ to investigate things like this?”

“We don’t have any authorization outside of Edo,” Yamazaki explained. “Even if it concerns Edo citizens, if they really have left the city, there’s nothing we can do.”

There was a moment of silence in the room, as Shinpachi and Kagura processed that, and as Kondo and Yamazaki watched them anxiously. A heavy, guilty sort of silence, a silence that was eventually broken by Kagura.

“No,” she said, staring at Kondo through narrowed eyes.

“Um….listen, Kagura-”

“I said no! I won’t accept that! We trusted you, we were depending on you to help us get them back, and you won’t even _try?!_ ”

She took another step forward, reaching for her umbrella, but Shinpachi stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.

“Stop, Kagura-chan,” he said quietly. “It’s not worth it. Let’s go.”

“Wait, wait, where are you going?”

“If you can’t help us, that’s fine. It’s fine.

“We’ll just have to do it ourselves.”

 

“Are you two sure about this?”

“Yes, Katsura-san.”

“There’s nothing I can do to change your minds?”

“No, Zura. Stop nagging.”

Shinpachi, Kagura, and Katsura were waiting on a hilltop just on the outskirts of the city. Sadaharu was with them, because Kagura refused to leave him behind, and Elizabeth was with them, because he went wherever Katsura went. But aside from the five of them, it was completely deserted.

Shinpachi thought that the view from the hill would probably have been very lovely. But he couldn’t see much, since the sun hadn’t come up yet. Instead he kept his eyes on the sky, watching the stars slowly fade from view, waiting.

“There, I see it,” Kagura said, pointing.

“Where?”

“Right there, see?”

Shinpachi adjusted his glasses and squinted upwards. Sure enough, there was something there; something that quickly grew larger as it approached, until it solidified itself into the shape of a Kaientai shuttle.

“Well. At least he actually showed up,” Katsura grumbled.

They watched as the ship slowly lowered further and further, eventually coming to a stop a few stories above their heads.

“Watch out below!” a voice yelled, and a ladder was lowered over the side.

“Well, I guess we’d better get going then,” Shinpachi said, leaning down to pick up what little luggage they were bringing with them. “Thanks for all your help, Katsura-san. We’ll be sure to bring him back.”

Katsura nodded gravely. “I know you will. Just, be careful.”

“We will. Ok, Kagura-chan, are you ready to-”

“Hey,” a voice called out behind them, “wait! Wait, wait a minute!”

They turned back to see Kondo running towards them, waving his arms. Okita was right behind him, an uncharacteristically serious look on his face.

“Zura, run for it! We’ll hold them off, you go-”

“No, stop! We’re not here for him!” Kondo skid to a halt in front of them, breathing hard. “You two...argh...you’re really going after them? By yourselves?”

“If you came here to try to stop us-”

“No no no, that’s not it!” Kondo reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of folded bills. “Here. It’s not much, but use this to pay for your ship, or for whatever you need.”

Shinpachi hesitantly reached out and accepted the money. “You...you’re serious?”

“Here, take this too,” Okita said, holding out his hand. “Interplanetary phone. So you can call us if you actually find anything, or if you’re in trouble.”

“But...I thought you said…”

“I said the _Shinsengumi_ doesn’t have any powers outside of Edo. I never said I didn’t want to help. We can’t leave ourselves, so this is all we can do, unfortunately. But at least it’s something, right?”

“We want Hijikata and Danna found as much as you do,” Okita said. “So get out there and find them. We’ll be waiting.”

“You won’t attack Zura as soon as we leave, will you?” Kagura asked suspiciously.

Kondo shook his head, smiling. “Is there someone else here? I hadn’t noticed. Guess I’m not paying attention.”

“Probably won’t start paying attention until we’re back in the city, either,” Okita added, shrugging.

Shinpachi laughed incredulously. This was the kind of loyalty Gintoki and Hijikata inspired in people: the kind that defied both law and prejudice.

“Thank you, all of you. We’ll find them. I promise.”

“And we’ll bring them home safe,” Kagura said determinedly. “Promise.”

The two of them gathered their things and headed for the ship’s ladder. It was sturdily built, and big enough for even Sadaharu to clumsily climb up.

Sakamoto and Mutsu were waiting for them once they reached the deck. “Welcome aboard!” Sakamoto said with his usual cheer. “Got everything? Ready to go?”

Shinpachi was incredibly anxious at the thought of travelling into space by themselves, but he knew it had to be done. Gintoki needed his help.

“Ready,” he said.

“Alright then. Off we go!”

The shuttle shuddered under their feet and began ascending, back towards where Sakamoto’s ship was waiting for them.

Shinpachi and Kagura watched the figures on the hilltop below them shrink out of sight, watched until Edo was just a dot on the ground beneath them.

They were on their own now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want you guys to know that for a while I was planning to have the entire flagship come meet them, but then the sciencey side of my brain said 'it's too big to land in a place like that, it'd have trouble lifting off again'. And I had to look up pictures to make sure I was right, and the results for 'Sakamoto ship' and 'Kaientai ship' both just pull up a lot of Sakamoto x Mutsu fanart, which is lovely but not what I needed!
> 
> Anyway. Thanks for reading, next ch will be back to Gin and Hiji, I promise


	8. Stories are Supposed to be Shared

Hijikata and Gintoki quickly learned that not all fights aboard the _Kali_ were the same. Some were like the first one they had been in, giant free-for-alls involving many combatants. Others were smaller, more organized affairs, anything from one against one to teams of four or five facing off against each other.

As time went on, the two humans began to get better at those kinds of fights. They learned more about Aldaris’ other slaves, and came up with some pretty effective strategies to deal with most of them. Additionally, they got more comfortable fighting unarmed, and they began to work better as a team. Soon they weren’t just hovering on the sidelines, hoping they wouldn’t be targeted; they were running to the middle along with everyone else, trying to get the whole thing over as quickly as possible.

Aldaris didn’t seem to mind them working with each other. In fact, he and the crowds that watched the fights seemed to consider the two of them a matched set. Which was a little annoying, of course, but they weren’t going to complain.

Occasionally, the rumble of the engines stopped, indicating they’d either landed on or were in orbit around some distant planet. And when that happened, other slaves were brought in to fight against them.

The latter were clearly considered rare treats for Aldaris and his crew. Those fights, whether large and chaotic or small and organized, were more unpredictable, and therefore considered much more interesting to watch.

For the slaves themselves, they were a nightmare. They had no way to prepare for them, no way to guess what these new enemies were capable of. And it was those fights that Hijikata and Gintoki walked away from with the most cuts, bruises, and scrapes. Sometimes one or both of them was hurt quite badly.

But they patched each other up afterwards as best they could, and in time they healed. They kept learning, and adapting. They never stopped fighting.

Between fights, they mostly kept to themselves. It seemed that, by allying with each other, they had automatically alienated everyone else on Deck Zero. No one ever wanted to talk to them. But that was fine. They had each other to talk to, and that was enough.

 

“You have a lot of scars,” Hijikata noted as he wound bandages around Gintoki’s torso.

“Well, yeah,” Gintoki said, wincing a little. An amanto with claws the length of his forearm had gouged his back pretty deeply earlier, but luckily he and Hijikata were getting fairly good at stopping their various wounds from bleeding too much. “Living this kind of life, that’s what happens. I’m sure you’ve got them too.”

“I do, but not this many.” Hijikata paused for a moment, and Gintoki felt fingers brushing gently over a spot low on his left shoulder. “And none so...old.”

“That one’s from the Joui War.”

“Oh.” Hijikata fell silent and resumed winding the bandages. 

Gintoki sat as still as he could, his thoughts wandering. “Back then, during the war, we used to sit around the fires at night and show off our scars, tell the stories and all that. Well, Takasugi wasn’t much into it, but the rest of us had a lot of fun. Exaggerating ‘em til they were funny, you know how it is.”

“Yeah, some of my subordinates are into that kind of thing. Lift up your arm a sec.”

Gintoki did as he was told. “One time, Sakamoto convinced half the men that he had got a burn scar on his leg from a dragon. Told them that the amanto had brought a real, actual dragon to Earth and that he had fought it off all but single handedly, and they actually believed him. Later I asked him how he’d really got it, and he said he’d dropped a hot roasting spit on himself.”

Hijikata actually chuckled at that, and Gintoki smiled.

“Ok, your turn. I know you must have some good stories.”

“I’m not much for storytelling.”

“Oh, come on. I told you mine.”

“Well....there was this one time with Sougo and Yamazaki…”

 

“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?”

“I’m sure,” Hijikata said around the needle in his mouth. It was made for stitching up particularly bad wounds, but he was convinced he could use it to patch up their torn and tattered clothes. If he could just figure out how to get the pieces back to the way they had been before they’d been torn…

“You don’t seem like you know what you’re doing, is all.”

“Trust me, Yorozuya. I’ve got this. Hold this bit for me?”

“Mmm.” Gintoki leaned over and held the cloth the way Hijikata indicated. There was a look on his face that Hijikata had come to recognize easily, a look that meant he wanted to say something but was holding it in. Hijikata had seen it most frequently whenever Aldaris came up in conversation.

“Something on your mind?”

“Nah, it’s nothing.”

“Is it. Because it doesn’t seem to me like nothing.”

“Well, I was just wondering…Could you maybe not, y’know, call me that?”

“What, Yorozuya? Why not, that’s what you are.”

Gintoki grimaced. “Yeah, I know, but nobody calls me that. At least, nobody who doesn’t want me dead. And quite a few of the people who want me dead still call me something else. I know it’s stupid, but it just makes me a little uncomfortable.”

Hijikata was surprised. He hadn’t really expected Gintoki to be bothered by that kind of thing. “Ok, fine. What do you want me to call you?”

“Whatever is fine. I understand if you don’t think we’re on a first name basis.”

“We’ve been kidnapped and forced into a life of slavery and fighting for our lives together. I think we’re a little past the point of first name basis.”

He grinned a little at that. “Hah, guess you’re right. In that case, call me Gintoki.”

“Yeah. You can call me Toshirou, if you want.”

“Are you sure you don’t want me to call you Tosshi-kun, like when-”

“Don’t push your fucking luck.”

 

“What’s the first thing you’re going to do when we get back to Earth?”

“That’s a very optimistic question.”

“I know. I was trying to think optimistically.”

Hijikata chewed a bite of his dinner thoughtfully, considering his answer. “Buy a pack of cigarettes and smoke the whole thing.”

“Toshirou, that’s incredibly unhealthy.”

“I don’t care, really. What about you?”

“I’m going to go home and sleep for a week. It’ll feel really good to lay down without worrying about someone trying to kill me in my sleep.”

Hijikata watched Gintoki take a bite of his own food. “...We have to consider the fact that we won’t ever make it home, you know.”

Gintoki scowled at him. “I told you I was trying to be optimistic.”

“Sorry, but that’s the most realistic outcome.”

“Here’s realistic for you; our friends are out there right now, and they’re coming for us. They’ll find us eventually, and then we’ll escape. It’s just a matter of time.”

Hijikata sighed. “How are Kagura and Shinpachi supposed to get off planet, let alone track us down all the way out here?”

Gintoki looked at him, frowning. “You...you don’t think the Shinsengumi will be with them?”

“No, of course they won’t. They have work to do. They can’t afford to drop everything for something like this.” Hijikata shrugged. It hurt a little, but it was true. There was a protocol for these kinds of situations.

“That is the fucking worst,” Gintoki said matter-of-factly. “I wish I could say I thought you were joking.”

“You mean to tell me that back in your war, you didn’t ever have to make that kind of choice? That you didn’t have to keep moving forward with your cause even if one of your own died?”

“Actually, that’s exactly what happened. No, it’s true,” Gintoki insisted, seeing Hijikata roll his eyes. “After...Shoyo, I stopped. He was basically the whole reason I was fighting, and without him I didn’t think there was a point. And after I stopped, a bunch of others stopped and the Amanto took advantage of that.”

Hijikata had never heard Gintoki talk about the end of the war before. He’d heard plenty of stories about from the war itself, but never about how it had ended. He was pretty sure he knew most of the facts, but hearing it firsthand was different. “I didn’t know.”

“Well, I couldn’t have expected you to. Anyway what I’m trying to say is, some things are more important than others. Zura- Katsura, I mean- he never stopped. He’s still out there resisting right now, even though he knows that by now there isn’t really much he could do. Sakamoto, and Takasugi, they both moved on in their own ways. But for me it was over without Shoyo.”

Gintoki’s face had become expressionless, his eyes downcast. Hijikata could tell it was a difficult thing for him to talk about.

He reached out and hesitantly put a hand on Gintoki’s shoulder. “It wasn’t your fault. You know that, right?”

Gintoki blinked and looked at Hijikata. “...Yes. I know. Doesn’t make it any easier.” He took a deep breath. “That’s beside the point. The Shinsengumi should come for you. You should be more important for them than whatever else.”

“They won’t come,” Hijikata said quietly, letting his hand fall off Gintoki’s shoulder. “I wrote those protocols myself. Gintoki, no matter how you look at it, it just isn’t realistic that anyone will find us.”

“Well, then I guess we’ll just have to stick to the original plan of escaping together. Or, are you giving up on that too, Mister Realistic?”

“No.” Hijikata smiled, trying to look reassuring. “No, I’m not giving up. We can do this ourselves.”

“Good. That’s what I like to hear.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my favorite chapter so far! I actually wrote most of this one months ago, before I even started this fic. This, and one other scene coming up later, were what convinced me to sit down and flesh this idea out enough to write this thing.
> 
> Next chapter we will introduce a new character! Hope you're all looking forward to it as much as I am!


	9. There's Strength in Numbers

About a month and a half or so into their captivity, something changed. For the first time since they’d been kidnapped, Aldaris purchased another slave.

She didn’t come quietly. The rest of them could hear the commotion she was making long before they could see her.

Since their corner was pretty close to the door, Gintoki and Hijikata had a better view than most. Through the forcefield, they saw no less than five guards pushing and dragging a single small figure down the hall towards them. Even with five people restraining her she was putting up quite a struggle, thrashing around in their grip, screaming and cursing in a strange, harsh language. 

One of the guards managed to reach out and deactivate the forcefield, and the others threw the prisoner roughly through the doorway.

She was back up in a flash, but the forcefield had already been reactivated behind her. She screamed again, a wordless howl of pure rage, and threw herself at the forcefield. She hit it and bounced back, electricity crackling across her form as she was again thrown to the ground.

“Oh shit,” Hijikata said, hastily getting up and approaching her, Gintoki right behind him. “Hey, are you ok?”

He reached out a hand, but she swatted it away with what seemed like remarkable strength for someone who had just charged head on into a containment forcefield. Her skin was a dark, glossy shade of maroon, dotted here and there with dark sunspots, and her hair was a short, messy shock of bright pink.

“Don’t _touch_ me,” she snarled. “I am not that filthy _gharkdorm_ ’s pet, I am no one’s captive! I’m not like you! ”

“Yeah, I’ll say. If either of us had even touched that field, we’d be dead right now.” Gintoki was truly impressed; the girl couldn’t have been more than five feet tall, but she shrugged off the electric charge like it was just a static shock.

“Where is this?” she demanded, getting to her feet once again. “Who are you? I have to get out, I have to get back, right now. Stand aside.”

“Easy,” Hijikata said, raising his hands in the universal gesture of ‘calm the fuck down.’ “This is Deck Zero, where Aldaris keeps all his prisoners. I’m Hijikata Toshirou, and this is Sakata Gintoki. We’ve been here a while. I know you’re upset, but…there is no way out.”

“There must be!”

“Other than that door, there’s nothing. Trust us, we’ve tried.”

“I do not, actually. I don’t trust you, or you, or anyone here! Move aside, I am leaving.”

“Nooooononono, let’s not do that again,” Gintoki said hurriedly, moving between her and the forcefield. Up close, she was not only short but also very young. There were several smudges of something that might’ve been wet dirt on her face and the exposed skin of her arms, but he was guessing that wasn’t it. “You’d just hurt yourself.”

“If that is what it takes, then I do not mind.”

“Nope, nope, not happening. Kid, listen, just hear us out, ok? Just take a breather, take a few minutes, and listen, ok?”

She glared at him silently for a few moments, and he thought she wasn’t going to do it. But then she relaxed her stance just a bit and unclenched her fists. “Very well. You will answer my questions?”

“Best we can, yeah.”

“Gintoki, take her over there,” Hijikata said. “I’m going to get something for those cuts.”

“Alright.” Gintoki led the way back to the corner, the new girl trailing behind him. The looks the other amanto were giving him didn’t escape his notice; they were angry. He and Hijikata had already broken the rules just by sticking with each other, so Gintoki could only guess how it looked to them now. Probably that they had pounced on the new arrival, trying to add her to their list of allies before anyone else could, in order to defeat the others more easily.

“Sakata Gintoki,” the girl said as he sat down and leaned against the wall. “What planet do you hail from?”

“We’re from Earth. Uh, I don’t know if you know it, it’s blue and green and it’s got one moon.”

“I know of it. It is many light-years from here...many light-years…”

“Yeah, well. Like Toshirou said, we’ve been here a while now. Sit down, go on.”

She sat, folding her legs beneath herself and holding her back rigidly stiff. “Why have I been brought here?”

“To fight. Aldaris likes to watch us fight each other.”

“That’s horrible!”

“You get used to it,” Gintoki shrugged as Hijikata walked back over to them, a jar of salve and a clean cloth in his hands.

“Hold still,” he said, sitting down beside her and raising the cloth.

“I can do that myself!” she snapped, snatching the cloth from him.

“Ok, alright, jeez.” Hijikata put down the salve and sat back, exchanging a wary look with Gintoki. “What’s your name?”

“None of your business.”

“You know we’re really not planning to hurt you, right? We just wanna talk.”

The girl stared at them, dabbing at the brown blood on her face, considering her answer. “...It’s Jaiya.”

“Jaiya, ok. And where are you from?”

“The planet Vespta, where we are now.”

“Alright, Jaiya from Vespta. What do you want to know?”

“The way off this ship,” she said immediately. “Tell me everything you know.”

Gintoki and Hijikata exchanged another look. “We’ve only ever seen the same door they brought you in through. The arena we fight in is in the other direction. That’s all know for certain.”

“I _need_ to go back, right now. My people need me. Without my protection who knows what will happen to them…if the Racke army attacks, they will be all but defenseless…”

“Your people are at war?”

“Not exactly. The ruling emperor of our planet, Racke, is just a...a...someone who torments others for fun, and to increase his own riches at the expense of the poor.”

“A bully,” Gintoki supplied.

“A dictator,” Hijikata corrected.

“A bully dictator!” Jaiya spat angrily. “Without me, my village will be open to attacks by the army, or by roaming bandits, or by _sshandsi_ packs. I _must_ return immediately.”

“Is that what they promised you? Help for your people?”

Jaiya blinked, apparently surprised that Hijikata had guessed correctly. “Yes. How did you know? Were you also tricked with false promises?”

“Yes. I’m a law enforcement officer on Earth, and they offered me a chance to catch a lot of criminals.”

Jaiya nodded and looked expectantly at Gintoki.

“Uh...a chance to win a lot of money. I have these kids I look after, and we’re always broke as hell, so. Y’know.”

“That is admirable.” Jaiya sighed and screwed the lid back on the jar of salve. “I can only hope that one day both of you will be returned safely to your homes. And I thank you for your assistance.”

“Jaiya, why don’t you stick with us?” Hijikata offered. “We may be able to help each other.”

She looked between the two of them, unconvinced. “Why should I? You are as powerless here as I am, are you not?”

“For now. But don’t you think it’d be easier to escape with three people instead of just one?”

Jaiya smiled, for the first time since she’d come aboard. It was a broad, confident, easy smile.

“You two are different than the others here, aren’t you. I like that! I will lend you my aid, at least for a while. We shall see whether you are worthy enough to keep it in time.”

“You talk big, Kid,” Gintoki said, grinning back at her. “I hope you can back that up.”

“Of course I can! You insult me, Sakata Gintoki.”

“Alright, alright. Toshirou, you’re the plan guy, why don’t you tell her what we’ve got so far.”

“Sure, but let me put this stuff back where it came from first.”

“I can do that,” Jaiya said, picking up the cloth and salve. “Over there, yes? I shall be right back.”

Hijikata shook his head, watching her go. “She sure is a handful.”

“I like her. I just hope she really is worth something in the arena, that’s all.”

“You know, you never told me why you really got into all this. You never said it was for your kids.”

“They’re not my kids.”

“Yes they are.”

“So what, you thought I showed up at that warehouse because I just really wanted to swing my sword at some people? As if I don’t do enough of that every day of my life???”

“Oh, shut up. How was I supposed to know if you didn’t tell me?”

“...Touche.” Gintoki sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “I just hope they’re doing ok.”

“I’m sure they’re fine. And with any luck, we’ll see them soon.”

“You think you’ve got an idea?”

“I’ve got the beginnings of an idea. We’ll need to be patient, and observant, but… yeah, I think, with Jaiya, we might just be able to pull something off.”

Gintoki nodded. He hoped Hijikata was right. Their situation was looking up for the first time since they'd been abducted, and he desperately wanted this to be the beginning of the end of this mess. But he didn't dare let his hopes get too high. Instead he resolved to do as Hijikata suggested.

To watch, and to wait.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jaiya! : D I'm super glad to introduce her, finally. Sorry for putting an oc into a strictly Gintama story, but she's actually pretty essential to the rest of the plot. Feel free to ask me any questions you may have, about her or anything else in this story you don't quite understand, in the comments or on my tumblr page.
> 
> Sorry for leaving such long notes every time...people who read this as a completed fic will hate me...thanks for reading anyway! I love and appreciate all of you!


	10. Threats are Only Effective if You can Back your Shit Up

“Why do the two of you have two names each?”

“Just ‘cause,” mumbled Gintoki, not quite fully awake yet. “Toshirou, tell ‘er.”

“One’s a family name, and one’s a given name,” Hijikata explained, dragging his fingers through his sleep-tangled hair. “My parents, and my brother, all shared the name ‘Hijikata’ with me.”

“I didn’t know you had a brother.”

“Well, I did. Once.”

“So, Hijikata is your shared name. Sakata is also a shared name?”

“I guess. There’s no one left alive to share it with, though. Your planet doesn’t do family names?”

Jaiya shrugged. She seemed to have a limitless supply of energy. “We believe, if you want to be recognized, you should make a name for yourself.”

“Hey, that’s actually pretty cool. I like it.”

“And none of our names are more than two sounds. Longer than two is too long.”

“Two syllables,” Hijikata corrected automatically. “Jaiya, do your people possess spaceflight capabilities?”

“The rich do. But I have never been in space before. I had never even seen a spaceship before yesterday. Much shinier than I thought.” She leaned forward and rested her elbow on her leg, her chin in her hand. 

“Which name do I call you?”

“Whatever’s fine.”

“That’s not a real answer.”

Gintoki shrugged. “If two syllables is too long for you, you can call me Gin. Most people call me that anyway.”

“Gin, good. And, Hiji? No, Hiji is the shared one. Toshi.”

“If you have to,” Hijikata grumbled.

“I do,” Jaiya said decisively. “Gin and Toshi, warriors of Earth. When do we fight? How soon will we know what we need to know to escape? How will we return home once we do? What if-”

“Hey, Kid, calm down, ok? It might not be for a while. Be patient.”

“I am not a kid! I am a warrior.”

“The two are not mutually exclusive, in my experience.”

“How old are you, anyway?”

“Thirty-seven.”

Gintoki frowned. “Now, hold on, that doesn’t sound right. Thirty-seven what?”

“Lunar cycles,” she said, as if it should have been obvious.

“Still doesn’t sound right.”

“It’s a different planet, Gintoki. Let’s try this, how old are you in _years_? How many, uh, how many winters have passed since you were born.”

“Very poetic, Toshirou.”

“What’s a ‘winter’?”

Gintoki chuckled. “Different planet, all right.”

“Nevermind, I guess it’s not that important.”

“So you don’t know when we will actually get to fight? I’m tired of sitting around.”

“We haven’t had one in a bit. It should be soon.”

“But when?”

“ _Soon_.”

 

Two days later, Jaiya finally got the chance she’d been waiting for. In the morning, the guards came as usual and selected the combatants for the day, lined them up and marched them out.

“Jaiya, listen carefully,” Hijikata whispered to the young woman as they made their way through the ship. “You mustn’t interact with us once we’re in the arena. We don’t want Aldaris to know that we’re working together.”

“Why not?” she whispered back.

“Just do what he says,” Gintoki hissed at her from behind Hijikata. “He knows what he’s talking about.”

“Very well. I will act as though we are strangers.”

“Good. Be careful out there.”

“Yeah, watch your back, Kid.”

They entered the arena, and spread out along the wall as they always did. True to her word, Jaiya moved away from the humans without even looking at them.

“You do know what you’re doing, don’t you, Toshirou?”

“Of course I know what I’m doing,” Hijikata snapped indignantly. You wanna team up on the big guy over there first, or save him for later?”

“Nah, we can do him first. I’ll lead.”

“Got it.”

Aldaris called his usual start to the battle, and the humans took off after their first target. Once they’d engaged him, things got busy pretty quickly, but Hijikata tried to keep an eye on Jaiya from across the arena, just to see how she was handling herself.

As it turned out, he needn’t have worried about her. Jaiya was _fast_ , much stronger than she looked, and incredibly agile. She threw herself at any enemy in her path, keeping herself moving constantly, jabbing at her opponents’ weak spots with quick, well-placed jabs.

However, it was clear she wasn’t used to the environment. One of the other, much larger amanto seized her from behind and bound her arms. She screeched her discomfort and kicked her legs violently, but to no avail. Another amanto, perhaps sensing an opportunity, approached the struggling pair and hit Jaiya hard in the face, before turning on the one who’d been holding her.

Jaiya fell to the sand, hands clutching her nose, breathing hard. Hijikata winced painfully on her behalf, but forced himself not to go to her.

The fight ended a few minutes later. Hijikata and Gintoki, relatively unhurt, made their way to the line, eyeing Jaiya out of the corner of their eyes.

She eventually got to her feet unassisted, wiping dark blood off her face and glaring around at everyone. Instead of yelling or complaining, she was quiet. She was angry, Hijikata could tell.

The slaves were brought back to Deck Zero without incident. Hijikata and Gintoki shared a meaningful look, but didn’t dare say anything to each other until they were safely back in their corner.

“She’s mad. Did you see the look on her face? What do we do?”

“I don’t know, what do you do when Kagura’s mad?”

“Feed her, and that isn’t really an option here.”

“Then I guess we’ll just have to talk her out of it.”

“Fuck, man, I don’t know if that’s going to work…”

They fell silent as Jaiya approached, her nose still bleeding and her fists balled. “When do we fight again?” she demanded.

“We don’t know,” Hijikata said, trying to sound soothing and not pulling it off. “It could be tomorrow, it could be a week or more.”

“I want another chance. I will not make the same mistakes twice.”

“Mistakes? Kid, you were amazing out there. Don’t get hung up on a bloody nose, I thought it was incredible.”

“I was defeated,” Jaiya insisted, tears of frustration actually forming in her eyes. “It was a disgraceful performance.”

“No, no, it was no such thing. I mean it,” Gintoki said, seeing her scoff in disbelief. “We didn’t do nearly that well our first time out.”

“I find that difficult to believe.”

“It’s true. Toshirou twisted his ankle and couldn’t walk for like three days. We thought we were gonna die, honest. But you? You fought like a beast out there, Kid.”

Jaiya pouted and raised her eyebrows. “Really?” she asked looking between the two of them.

“Really,” Hijikata said. “You did great. And it’ll only get better, I’m sure.”

Apparently convinced, Jaiya gave a small smile. “Think of what I could have done if they’d given me my claws,” she said, wiping her nose.

“Fuck, Kid, you sure backed up all that big talk from earlier.” Gintoki grinned at her. “Color me impressed.”

“Thank you. What does ‘fuck’ mean?”

“Uhhhh….”

“Don’t look at me, Gintoki. That one’s on you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We may have one more sorta slower-paced, dialogue-heavy chapter before getting into some more serious plot action. Any opinions from the audience? (If none of you say anything you get that because I like writing it and I hate writing action sequences)
> 
> As usual, thank you for gracing my increasingly preposterous ramblings with your eyes <3


	11. There are Three Sides to Every Story

Jaiya was bored. She was worried about her village, yes, and she was angry at the man who had kidnapped her, yes, and she was still a little upset about her recent defeat in the arena, of course. But, left alone long enough, even the strongest emotions can give way to boredom.

There wasn’t much to do on Deck Zero. It was a dim, lifeless, incredibly boring place. Jaiya occupied her time with pacing, stretching, reciting herself poems she had studied in her youth. Anything she could think of.

But her most frequent and most interesting pastime came from studying her two new companions, the warriors of Earth. Jaiya had never met any aliens before. Perhaps that was part of the reason she had fallen for the slavers’ tricks so easily; she found them fascinating. Gin and Toshi were very different from anyone she had ever known. She thoroughly enjoyed watching them and learning from them.

Toshi was the smarter one, clearly. He was the one Gin trusted to come up with a feasible escape plan, and from what Jaiya had seen, she felt she could trust him as well. He was more reserved than Gin, but he wore his feelings on his sleeve for all to see, and at heart Jaiya believed him to be a kind man.

Gin was a little harder to read. Jaiya got the sense that she only saw the sides of him that he wanted her to see, which made it harder to trust him. But Toshi did, so Jaiya did as well. It was very difficult to say with any certainty, but Jaiya thought that Gintoki was probably the stronger fighter between the two of them.

“Did the two of you know each other before coming here?” she asked them one day. She remembered Toshi saying he’d worked as a lawman, but somehow Gin didn’t strike her as one for that kind of work.

“Yeah, we did.” Gin told her. “But we, uh, weren’t exactly friends.”

“I think it’s fair to say we were more often enemies,” Toshi said.

“I never thought of you as my enemy. Just some weird guy who likes mayo too much.”

“What’s ‘mayo’?”

“It’s a kind of food topping.”

“Not the way you use it, it’s not.”

“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?”

Jaiya believed them when they said that they had often clashed on their home planet. They still clashed frequently. But the arguments and disagreements always ended peacefully.

It was clear to her that the two of them had become very close during their time in captivity. They treated each other with respect, even when they disagreed. They took care of each other, and they were almost never apart. At night, they always slept back to back, pressed up against each other.

Jaiya was not very experienced in matters of the heart. Sure, she had had plenty of crushes in her youth, but ever since she had achieved full warrior status in her village, there had been no time for romantical pursuits. Not to mention, Gin and Toshi were of a completely different race. But she was pretty sure that the two humans were sweet on each other.

The only problem was, they did not seem to have noticed.

The thing that convinced Jaiya beyond any doubt had happened after a fight, one that had lasted too long, and had worn all of them down considerably.

“Toshi, you are bleeding!”

“Oh,” he’d muttered, as if only then noticing the blood on his arm. Human blood, she’d discovered, was a bright, startling red, and it looked alarmingly out of place against their pale, unmarked skin. “Don’t worry. It’s just a scratch, it’s not deep.”

“Come here,” Gin had said, taking hold of Toshi’s hurt arm, pushing back his sleeve.

Jaiya had watched the way Gin carefully and gently cleaned the long cut on Toshi’s arm, and she had watched the way Toshi had watched Gin, and she had known right then. But they didn’t know. Why was that? Were humans just bad at that kind of thing, she’d wondered.

In light of this new information, however, that they had not always been friends, she was beginning to understand. It was not all humans who were bad at romance, just _her_ humans.

It was a shame, she felt. Even considering the circumstances, those who loved each other should be together. But it wasn’t for her to say this to them….better if they figured it out on their own. But what if they never did? Should she let them go on as they had, in ignorance? It hardly seemed fair…

“Hey, Kid, are you listening?”

“Hmm? No, I was not. Repeat the question.”

Gin sighed. “I said, aren’t you cold? We could try to figure out a way to get you something to cover your arms at least.”

“That won’t be necessary,” Jaiya assured him. “I am not uncomfortable. It gets much colder than this in the desert at night.”

“Desert?” Toshi looked at Gin. “No wonder she didn’t understand the word ‘winter’.”

“Well, I’m glad you’re at least ok with this temperature. Because if you had said you were cold, I’m pretty sure that would’ve involved more sewing, and both of us are horrible at that.”

“I thought I did a pretty good job, considering.”

“You did better than I could. But that doesn’t change the fact that now one of my sleeves is shorter than the other, Toshirou.”

Jaiya smiled. She sure hoped they would figure it out soon. They would make a highly entertaining couple, and she was eagerly looking forward to seeing that.

 

Kagura and Shinpachi spent weeks travelling with Sakamoto and Mutsu on the Kaientai’s flagship, helping some of Sakamoto’s best people track down anything that might help them find Gintoki and Hijikata. Everywhere they looked they found nothing but dead ends, cold trails, and frustratingly obscure hints. No one could help them.

But just when Kagura had started to fear that they’d never find them, one of the Kaientai’s men came to them with something definite; a ship, orbiting a heavily populated planet, the operations of which no one fully understood. But several witnesses had seen some of the small, reptilian amanto there, the same amanto that had been rumored to be behind the kidnappings on Earth.

“What should we do?” the agent had asked.

“I think we should storm their ship, use the element of surprise while we’ve got it.”

“Yes, Sir.”

“We’re coming,” Shinpachi had said, stepping forward.

“It’s too dangerous. Stay here, let us handle this.”

“No, not if there’s a chance Gin-chan’s there.” Kagura had glared at Sakamoto, letting him know she was not asking for his permission.

“....Ok, fine.”

And so it was that she and Shinpachi found themselves running through the metal corridors of a strange base, weapons in hand, a group of Sakamoto’s men at their heels. Alarms were going off all around them, and they could hear shouting up ahead. Clearly, their presence had not gone unnoticed.

Abruptly, they reached a junction in the corridor. The shouting was coming from the left fork, but the right fork was quiet and dark.

“Which way?” Shinpachi asked, sounding a little nervous.

“Split up,” the leader of the Kaientai group said. “You two take the right fork, let us handle them.”

“Ok. Kick their asses for us,” Kagura said, and set off down the right path, Shinpachi following close behind.

The corridor was a short, straight one, completely unoccupied. At the end Kagura and Shinpachi found a single door, triple locked and password protected, complete with retinal scanner.

Kagura broke the door down. Another alarm joined the chorus going off around them, but she paid it no attention.

The room beyond the door seemed to serve as some kind of vault; it was crowded with boxes of important-looking documents, weapons, valuable gems and jewelry, and a host of other things.

“Look around for anything useful,” Shinpachi said desperately. “Maybe they kept a record of the kidnappings, or something…”

“Shinpachi, look.”

Kagura bent down and pulled one of the boxes towards her, out from under the shadow of the shelf above it. It was marked in a language she didn’t recognize, and it was filled with an assortment of seemingly random objects.

Sticking out over the side were two familiar katanas- one scabbarded and perfectly polished, the other wooden, scratched, and worn.

“I don’t think they’re here,” Kagura said, her voice coming out choked and tight.

“But they’re close. We’re close.” Shinpachi paused to squeeze Kagura’s shoulder reassuringly, then reached out and took the swords. Hijikata’s he fastened securely to his belt. Gintoki’s he held in his other hand alongside his own.

“They’re coming, Kagura-chan,” he said. “We have to go, now. Can you bring the box?”

“Yes.” It wasn’t that big. Kagura folded the top flaps closed and held it under one arm, leaving the other free to deal with any enemies she happened to encounter. “Let’s go.”

Shinpachi nodded, and the two of them left the safe, running as fast as they could back up the corridor, back to their ship.

It wasn’t a clean trip. Later all Kagura would remember was turning a corner and running headlong into a seemingly infinite amount of amanto.

But somehow they made it through, and safely back to the ship. Mutsu closed the doors behind them on the hordes of enemies, and they took off.

“Is everyone accounted for?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Good. Well, Shinpachi-kun, did you find anything?”

“Yes,” Shinpachi gasped, breathing hard. “There might be something here that can help us.”

Kagura held out the box, and Sakamoto bent to study it. “Hmm. I think we can decode that, easily. Well done everyone- with any luck, we’ll know who has them within a few hours.”

A few hours. Kagura heaved a heavy sigh that almost turned into a sob.

They were _so close._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed that peek into Jaiya's head, as well as Shinpachi's sudden transformation into Roronoa Zoro ; ) I am a very serious writer and I take my work seriously. Seriously.
> 
> Ok that was fun, but for real. Big Plot Things are happening next chapter, get ready!!!


	12. Expect the Unexpected

“I think I’ve got a plan,” Hijikata said.

Gintoki looked up from where he had been teaching Jaiya to play rock-paper-scissors. “What, really? An escape plan?”

“Keep your voice down, Gintoki. Yes, an escape plan.”

“Excellent!” Jaiya leaned in closer to Hijikata. “Tell us the plan, that we may execute it immediately.”

“I don’t think we should do it just yet. I think we should wait until the next time the ship lands.”

“Why?”

“Well, it won’t do anyone much good if we ‘escape’ into empty space and die. The other option would be to try to take over the ship and fly it to the nearest planet ourselves, but that’s a lot of time for something to go wrong.”

“He’s right, Jaiya,” Gintoki said before the young woman could protest. “Our main priority should be to escape. We can worry about getting home after all that.”

“Very well, I trust you. Now tell us the plan, Toshi!”

“Keep your voice down! Ok, this is what we’re going to do…”

 

After a few days of anxious waiting, they felt the quiet rumble of the engines stop. Shortly afterwards, the guards came to call the slaves to a fight.

Hijikata and the others waited with baited breath, but just as they’d hoped, all three of them were chosen to participate. They quickly moved into the line, trying hard not to let their emotions show on their faces and give them away.

“This is it,” Gintoki whispered. “If we botch this, we won’t get another chance.”

“We will not ‘botch’ it,” Jaiya hissed back determinedly. “We must not.”

“It’ll be alright,” Hijikata murmured, as much for his own benefit as for the others’. “This is going to work. You all remember the plan?”

“Yes, Toshi.”

“Yeah. Good luck to all of us- we’re gonna need it.”

They marched in line to the arena, where the usual crowds were waiting for them. Just as Hijikata had predicted, there were a few other slaves already there as well, likely belonging to one of this planet’s wealthiest.

“Free-for-all,” Gintoki muttered as he and Hijikata took their place along the wall. “That’ll make this easier.”

“Yeah. You ready?”

“As I’ll ever be. Let’s do this thing.”

Aldaris stood, raised his hand, began the fight like he always did. The slaves ran towards each other, and the punches began to fly, and the crowd cheered.

Hijikata and Gintoki carefully avoided the mess in the center of the arena this time. This time, they charged right at Jaiya, who charged them back. Hijikata swung his fist at her, which she ducked. She aimed her foot at his side, which Gintoki blocked.

‘Make it look like the real thing,’ Hijikata had told her. ‘The audience can’t know you’re faking it.’ And she had followed his advice; even he was having a tough time telling what she was thinking.

Slowly, slowly, they allowed the course of their fight to bring them towards the entrance to the arena, and the two armed guards who stood at attention there, ready to step in at a word from Aldaris. They moved closer, and closer, and closer still…

“ _Now!_ ” Hijikata yelled.

He and Gintoki hastily ducked down, and Jaiya leapt over them with a roar, pouncing on one of the unsuspecting guards.

The other guard let out a yelp of surprise and fumbled for his gun, but Gintoki pulled it out of his grip and kicked him in the chest, sending him flying backwards into the arena wall.

“Go, Kid, go!” he yelled.

Jaiya was already in motion, the other, now unconscious guard’s gun slung over her shoulder. She swiftly and expertly scaled the arena wall, vaulting herself into the audience section. Most of the crowd was just beginning to realize that something out of the ordinary was happening; by the time she held everyone’s attention, she had already reached Aldaris.

“Do not _fucking_ move,” she snapped, shoving the barrel of the gun up against his chest. “None of you move! If you do anything, I will open fire.”

Aldaris stared down at her, all four eyes narrowed in rage. “You wouldn’t dare,” he growled.

Jaiya glared right back at him, holding fast. “Perhaps you are right. Shooting you would be too kind- if you make any move, I will throw you into the arena and let _them_ deal with you.” She gestured with her free hand to the slaves below them, who by now had stopped fighting amongst each other and were watching Jaiya and Aldaris intently.

“I will not allow this!” Aldaris’ face was flushed with anger, his thin lips drawn back from his teeth in a feral snarl. “You are _mine_ , you will do as I say! _Obey me!_ ”

Without a word Jaiya grabbed a handful of Aldaris’ shirt and flung him over the lip of the wall. He landed hard on the sand, but within seconds one of the amanto slaves below grabbed him and hoisted him up, grinning maliciously. Aldaris screamed, a sound filled as much with fear as with anger.

“Damn, Jaiya,” Hijikata said as she dropped back down to join them by the door. “That was brutal.”

“Thank you. Haven’t you got it open yet, Gin?”

“I don’t read alien,” Gintoki grumbled, messing with the controls of the door. “Oh wait, hang on….got it! Alright, let’s go.”

He hurried out into the corridor, Hijikata and Jaiya following close behind. They left the other slaves behind, all of them gathering around for the chance to get a piece of the man who had held them prisoner for so long.

“You two go ahead,” Jaiya called, “I will go back and release the others on Deck Zero.”

“Don’t be stupid, Kid, we don’t have time for that!”

“I will catch up! Go, go and I will find you!”

Jaiya turned off and dashed down the hall that led back to the slave deck. Gintoki skidded to a halt and almost followed her, but Hijikata grabbed his arm.

“She’ll be fine, Gintoki. There are more guards coming, and the best thing we can do for her right now is draw them away.”

“...Ok. Ok, fine, let’s go.”

When they eventually found their way off the ship and managed to lower the landing ramp, they discovered that it was nighttime on whatever planet they were on. But, wherever here was, enough stars were visible in the sky that they could see quite clearly.

The _Kali_ was parked next to another ship, right in the middle of a huge expanse of flat, rocky terrain. The ground was rough and gravelly, and beyond the ships, they could see a number of boulders and tall, column-like rock formations scattered seemingly at random across the ground. The rocks sparkled in many different colors in the starlight. Under normal circumstances, the scenery likely would’ve been quite breathtaking.

Hijikata barely had time to glance at it. Sitting in a circle a short distance from the ramp, several of Aldaris’ guards were playing cards with a group of strangers, men Hijikata could only assume were guards from the other ship, waiting for their slaves back from the battle.

With barely a pause, the two humans charged the guards, utilizing the element of surprise while they had it. They made short work of their unsuspecting opponents. The unfamiliar guards were armed with long, curved daggers; Hijikata took one. It felt strange and heavy in his hand, but at least it was a weapon.

Gintoki opened his mouth to say something, but before he could, he was interrupted by the sounds of shouting coming from the ship behind them. A moment later, the first of the slaves that Jaiya had feed came bursting out and scattered immediately, running as hard as they could away from the ship. Still more shouting followed them out: more guards, no doubt.

“C’mon, we gotta go!”

Gintoki and Hijikata joined the fleeing amanto, sprinting away from the _Kali_. They entered the field of boulders, weaving in and out of each other’s sight between the rocks.

Hijikata ran as fast as he could without slamming into one of the boulders or slipping on the loose gravel beneath his feet. His heart was beating faster than he could ever remember, and his breath came in short, raggad bursts. He couldn’t believe the plan had worked.

But then, suddenly, there was a searing, burning pain in his left calf, unlike anything he’d ever felt before. He cried out as his leg gave out beneath him, sending him sprawling to the ground, the dagger flying from his hand.

He twisted around to see a group of guards from both ships running towards him. One of them had shot at him, and even though it hadn’t killed him, they were coming to finish off the job.

He should have known it would never be that easy. He should have realized by now that, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Double update this time! Chapter 13 is already up, for anyone that wants to read it! --->


	13. Leave No Man Behind

Hijikata scrambled across the gravelly ground, dragging his wounded leg behind him. He made it to the nearest boulder and tried to use it to push himself up, but it was no good. The shot had taken a chunk of flesh out of his leg, and it simply would not support his weight.

Before he could make another move, the guards were upon him- at least ten of them, all of them glaring down at him, weapons drawn.

“You,” snarled one of Aldaris’ men, “you are the one who started all of this!”

“Go to hell,” Hijikata said between gritted teeth, clutching his bleeding leg.

The guard levelled his gun at Hijikata’s head. Hijikata squeezed his eyes shut in anticipation of a shot, but it didn’t come. Instead he heard a heavy thud and a howl of pain.

When he opened his eyes, the guard was on the ground and Gintoki was there, swinging the gun like a club down on the next guard’s head. The others cried out in surprise and anger, quickly drawing their weapons and lunging at Gintoki.

“No!” Hijikata shouted, trying and failing once again to get to his feet. “Gintoki, stop! Get out of here, while you still can!”

“I’m...not...leaving you!” Gintoki yelled back between blows. One of the guards thrust their arm forward and cut a long line down Gintoki’s arm, making him grunt in pain, but he didn’t stop. He threw the gun into the face of another man trying to line up a shot, and continued fighting with his fists.

Hijikata hurriedly shrugged out of one of his sleeves and, with clumsy, trembling fingers, tore it off at the seam. He hastily wrapped the cloth around his leg, tying it tightly. The heat of the guard’s shot had partially cauterized the wound, but it was still oozing a steady flow of blood, which quickly stained the makeshift bandage under Hijikata’s fingers.

Gintoki was still standing when Hijikata looked back up, but he was covered in blood and practically swaying on his feet. There were too many of them for him to deal with on his own, and at this rate he wouldn’t last much longer.

Hijikata forced himself to his knees and crawled towards the knife he’d dropped earlier. He didn’t know how much good it would do him, but he knew he had to try, or he and Gintoki would both die.

The dagger was almost within reach when he heard a shout of triumph from behind him- one of the remaining guards had successfully tackled Gintoki to the ground, and was raising his own dagger over his head, readying a killing blow. Gintoki lay still, unmoving.

“No!” Hijikata yelled again, his throat raw, his fingers scrabbling for the knife that was still just out of his reach. He wasn’t going to make it in time, he wasn’t going to be able to save him-

“Gin-chaaaaaaaaan!”

All of a sudden, an enormous white blur hit the guard with the force of a car, sending him flying backwards with a cry. The white shape solidified itself into the shape of a huge dog, which stood protectively over Gintoki, growling at the few guards left standing.

Hijikata watched in amazement as Kagura and Shinpachi jumped down from Sadaharu’s back, weapons drawn. “Yorozuya…?” he croaked in disbelief, his fingers clutching the stolen knife to his chest.

“Get away from him,” Kagura screeched, lashing out with her umbrella at the terrified guards.

“Hijikata-san!” Shinpachi left Kagura to handle the remaining opponents and hurried over to Hijikata’s side. “Oh, thank goodness you’re ok. We saw what was going on from the shuttle, and we were afraid we got here too late, but it looks like we just made it.”

“How? How did you…”

“We’ll explain everything later, I promise. Right now we have to get you back to the ship, get you medical attention. Here, lean on me.” Shinpachi offered his arm, and Hijikata pulled himself up.

“Gintoki-”

“Don’t worry, I’ve got him,” Kagura said, lifting Gintoki’s unconscious form with seemingly little effort and setting him down carefully on Sadaharu’s back before climbing up herself to hold him securely in place.

“Go slow, Kagura-chan, he’s hurt pretty bad. Hijikata-san, can you walk? It’s not far, just around that boulder there.”

“I’m fine,” Hijikata muttered, gripping Shinpachi’s arm tightly, clenching his jaw to shut out the pain in his leg. “Let’s go.”

Together they hobbled in the direction Shinpachi had indicated, Sadaharu following close behind them. As they got closer, a small shuttle came into view, the landing ramp lowered and the engines already humming and primed for takeoff.

“Almost there, almost there,” Shinpachi chanted in Hijikata’s ear. “Hang on just a bit longer, we’re almost there.” Hijikata could feel him trembling slightly, could hear the quickness of his breathing. He was still just a kid, and he’d been just as scared as Hijikata had back there, if not more so.

It seemed to take ages to cross the distance to the shuttle. Every step was painful for Hijikata, but he finally made it, letting go of Shinpachi and collapsing on the floor inside.

“We’ve got them, Mutsu-san,” Shinpachi said.

“Alright, then let’s get going back to the ship,” replied the woman at the shuttle’s helm. Mutsu, Hijikata supposed. The name wasn’t familiar to him.

“Help me get him down, Shinpachi,” Kagura said, and together they carefully lowered Gintoki to the floor. Hijikata was immeasurably relieved to see that he was still breathing, even if a bit shallowly.

“Thanks. Mutsu, as fast as you can go, we’ll…wait, did you guys hear that?”

“Hear what?”

Everyone fell silent for a moment, listening. Faintly, a voice reached them from outside; “Toshi! Toshi, wait! Wait!”

“Jaiya,” Hijikata gasped, his voice rough with pain.

“You know her, Hijikata-san?”

“Yes. Please, don’t leave her, please…”

“Ok, ok, don’t get up. We’ll wait for her.”

A few moments later, Jaiya dashed up the ramp, which closed behind her. She slid to a stop with her hands on her knees, breathing hard, as the engines pulsed and the shuttle lifted off the ground.

“What- argh- what h-happened?” she panted, looking back and forth between Gintoki and Hijikata. “What’s going on? Do you know these people?”

“It’s ok, Jaiya. We’re safe now.”

Jaiya nodded and flopped down on the deck, clearly exhausted. There were a couple small cuts and bruises on her arms and face, and she was sporting a couple of skinned knees, but other than that she seemed unharmed.

Hijikata leaned over across the small shuttle and put a hand on Gintoki’s chest, searching out and applying pressure to what seemed to be the worst of the knife wounds. Gintoki had lost a lot of blood, and his pulse was weak under Hijikata’s fingers.

“Can you help him?”

“Yes,” Mutsu said, glancing over her shoulder at them. “You’ll both be fine in no time.”

“Thank you,” Hijikata murmured, tears of relief and pain and regret forming in his eyes, obscuring his vision.

It was over.

“Thank you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is not the end of the story! There's a little more that needs to be said. But the worst of it is, in fact, over. Thanks for reading!!!


	14. It's Alright to Ask for Help When You're Hurting

Sakamoto’s ship had a full fledged infirmary on board it. A fact Gintoki had not been previously aware of. Yet here he was, laying down on one of the little white beds, covered in bandages and hooked up to at least three softly beeping machines.

Everything hurt. He vaguely remembered seeing Sakamoto and his Yato companion earlier, and someone mentioning something about knife wounds and internal bleeding. Then he’d blacked out again, evidently, because when he’d woken up, everything was dark and there were stars rushing past the window outside. He wanted to get up and find the others, make sure everyone was ok, but he doubted he would get very far.

The relative silence in the infirmary was interrupted by the quiet sound of the automated door whooshing open, and he looked up to see Hijikata standing tentatively in the doorway. When he noticed Gintoki was awake, Hijikata paused, as if trying to decide whether he was really allowed to be there.

“Come in,” Gintoki said, his voice sounding rough and gravelly to his own ears.

Hijikata nodded and stepped into the infirmary. He walked over to Gintoki and sat down on the next bed, surveying Gintoki carefully. He looked miserable; there were dark circles under his eyes, and he seemed a little pale.

“Is everything ok, Toshirou?”

“Everything is fine,” Hijikata hastily assured him. “Just, well, you know. Couldn’t sleep.”

Gintoki nodded wearily. “I know what you mean.”

“How are you feeling?”

“Lousy. But it’s fine, I’ve been here before and I’ve always come out ok. How are you?”

“I’m alright, don’t worry about me. Mutsu was able to fix my leg almost right away. I just have to wear this thing for a few days,” Hijikata said, indicating a metal, cast-like device strapped to his calf. “And she says you should be fully recovered in a few weeks.”

“Kagura and Shinpachi, they were the ones that brought Sakamoto to us, weren’t they? Are they ok?”

“They’re fine, neither of them is hurt. Jaiya’s with us too, and she’s just a little scraped up. Everyone’s fine, I swear.”

Gintoki nodded and let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. “Thank goodness. It’s a miracle we all made it out of that ok.”

“We didn’t all make it out ok,” Hijikata said very quietly.

“What are you talking about?”

“You! Look at you, Gintoki, you almost _died_. You should have left me. I’m not worth this. You should have left me behind.”

“Stop that,” Gintoki said, maybe a little harsher than he meant to. “If I had, you’d be the one dead. I wasn’t about to leave you alone back there.”

“That doesn’t-”

“I told you before, remember? Some things are more important. There wouldn’t have been much of a point in making it out without you. Let me ask you this, would you have walked away, if our positions were reversed.”

“......No. Absolutely not.”

“Well, there you have it. We’re stuck with each other, apparently.” Gintoki tried to smile, and ended up merely grimacing.

“Hmm.” Hijikata’s fingers toyed absently with the sheets on the bed he was sitting on. “I just, just can’t stop thinking about all the others for some reason. I don’t understand why we were rescued, and none of them were. I mean, what have we ever done to deserve more than them?”

“There’s no reason for that kind of thing, stupid. Just...be happy that you’re alive. Isn’t that enough?”

“I don’t know. It should be, but somehow it doesn’t feel like it.”

Gintoki didn’t know what to say to that. He’d had the same feeling before, plenty of times. He didn’t want to tell Hijikata that it never went away, not really.

“I’ll go,” Hijikata muttered after a few moments, standing up. “I’ll let you get some sleep.”

“Toshirou, wait.” Gintoki said quickly, and Hijikata turned back, a questioning look on his face. “It’s, uh...it’s been awhile since I slept by myself. You too. So maybe you...maybe you could stay here, just for the night?”

Hijikata blinked at him. Then he smiled. It was a small, timid smile, but it was full of relief and gratitude and Gintoki was inexplicably happy to see it.

“Ok. Just for the night.” Hijikata walked around to the other side of the bed he’d been sitting on and pushed it closer to Gintoki’s, close enough that they could reach out and touch each other if they needed to. Then he climbed into bed and pulled the blankets up around himself.

“Thanks,” Gintoki murmured, a little embarrassed.

“I should be the one thanking you,” Hijikata said.“You saved my life.”

“You’re welcome. Goodnight, Toshirou.”

“Goodnight, Gintoki.”

 

Hijikata was awoken the next morning when the lights in the infirmary suddenly came on and Mutsu walked in, carrying a tray with an array of steaming plates and bowls on it.

“Sorry,” she said when she saw him, “I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“‘S ok,” Hijikata mumbled, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. “I probably shouldn’t even have been in here. My bad.”

“It’s not a problem. I expected you to be here.” She bent to check the monitors by Gintoki’s bed, then nodded, apparently pleased with what she saw. “Are you hungry? I brought food.”

“Actually, now that you mention it, I’m starving. Thank you.”

“Sure.” Mutsu set the tray down next to Hijikata. “He should eat too. Wake him and make sure he has at least a little food, would you? I have other duties to attend to.”

“Oh, uh, ok. Thanks, again.”

Mutsu nodded, face unreadable. Then she turned on her heel and walked right back out, leaving Hijikata alone with Gintoki once again.

“Gintoki, wake up. Mutsu said you have to eat now.”

Gintoki grumbled something unintelligible and shifted a little, but didn’t get up. Hijikata rolled his eyes; some things never changed. “Come on, get up. Look, there’s food. It’ll get cold. Get up.”

“I’m getting up, I’m getting up…”

“Ok, good.” Hijikata grabbed two of the plates at random and sat down next to Gintoki on his bed. “Here, take this. I don’t know what it is, but it’s gotta be better than slave food.”

“Mmm. Ooh, we’ve got forks, too. Living the high life over here.”

“Hah, only the finest.”

They ate in silence for a few minutes. The food was not merely better than anything they’d eaten aboard the _Kali_ , it was great. Hijikata burned his tongue trying to eat it too quickly.

“Have you checked on the kids yet?”

“No, I just got up. But I’ll go find them when we’re done here, make sure they’re ok.”

“Thanks. They’ve been on their own for a while, I just want to make sure they didn’t do anything too stupid.”

“You mean besides chase off after you into space by themselves?”

“They’re not by themselves, they’ve got Sakamoto and his crew. He knows what he’s doing.”

“Isn’t he one of the ones you grew up with? From the war?”

“Ah...yeah. You won’t try to arrest him, will you?”

“No, of course not.”

“Thanks. That’d be awkward.” Gintoki chewed a bite of food, staring at the floor. “Hey, Toshirou…”

“What?”

“Nothing. Nevermind.”

“No, seriously, tell me.”

Gintoki bit his lip, hesitating. “It’s just...when we get back, are things going to just...go back to the way they were with us?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean you in the Shinsengumi and me, a former war criminal, in the Yorozuya and we never see each other unless something goes wrong.”

“What? No, of course not!” Hijikata shook his head. “How could you even think that, after everything we’ve been through?”

Gintoki shrugged, his head lowered, his hair falling across his eyes. “Wouldn’t be the first time,” he muttered.

Hijikata put his plate down on the bed beside him, reached out and grabbed one of Gintoki’s hands, forcing the other to look up at him.

“This isn’t going to be like the Joui War. I’m not going to, to just, _abandon_ you like that. If it hadn’t been for you, I...I wouldn’t have lasted two days on that ship. And you came back for me. I’m not just going to give that up now.”

Gintoki gently squeezed Hijikata’s hand in his own, a wave of pure relief washing across his face. “Thank you. I don’t want to give it up either, I don’t want things to go back to the way they were between us. I d-don’t want to h-have to- ah, fuck.” Gintoki raised his free hand and swiped at the tears spilling over onto his cheeks. “S-sorry. I don’t know why I’m crying.”

“It’s ok.” Hijikata put an arm around Gintoki and pulled him close, blinking back tears of his own. “It’s alright now. We’re alright.” 

Gintoki leaned into the embrace, rested his head on Hijikata’s shoulder. “We’re fucked up, aren’t we. We must be the two most fucked up idiots who ever lived.”

“Maybe. But at least we’re fucked up together.”

“Yeah. Together.”

The two of them sat like that for what felt like a long time, their half-empty plates forgotten beside them. Hijikata buried his face in Gintoki’s hair and tried to imagine what it would have been like for him, left completely alone after a devastating war like that. He’d been so young…

Hijikata resolved that, as long as he lived, Gintoki would never be alone like that again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the other scene that convinced me to write this fic. One, maaaaaybe two more chapters left! I'm also thinking of writing what I've been calling an 'author's ending' for this one, too. It wouldn't be a continuation of the story per say, just a collection of my thoughts about this whole thing. If you'd be interested in some of my personal inspirations, headcanons, and early drafts of the plot of this specific fic, be sure to let me know, and I'll write it!
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	15. Crushes Don't Get Easier to Deal With as You Get Older

Over the next few days, Gintoki’s strength slowly started to return. But Hijikata and Mutsu insisted that he stay in the infirmary until he was totally recovered. Arguing with the two of them was futile, Gintoki knew, and so he stayed put.

Instead, the others came to visit him. Shinpachi and Kagura spent as much time as they could with Gintoki, often accompanied by Jaiya. The young amanto seemed to have become fast friends with the human kids, which Gintoki was glad to see.

Hijikata had taken up a post on the bridge, working with and learning from Sakamoto, as a way to repay at least some of what they owed the Kaientai for their rescue. But he came to the infirmary as often as he could, usually staying there overnight.

Gintoki could tell Hijikata still felt guilty about his injuries, and he did everything he could to show the other man that he didn’t hold him responsible, and that he was healing well.

When the time came, they dropped Jaiya off on her home planet, after exchanging many hugs and the promise to visit each other one day. And then they were headed back to Earth, back to Edo, and back to their normal lives.

 

Mutsu shuttled them back, landing on the same hilltop on the outskirts of the city where she’d first picked up Shinpachi and Kagura. They’d called ahead, and sure enough Okita and Kondo were there, coming up the hill to meet them.

“You two are acting awfully familiar all of a sudden,” Okita said, one eyebrow raised.

“Shut up, Sougo.” Hijikata reached out to put a steadying hand on Gintoki’s back as they descended the shuttle’s landing ramp onto the grassy hillside. “A lot of stuff has happened.”

“Mmmmm, is that so?” Okita smiled slyly.

“Toshi! Gintoki! It’s so good to see you two again!” Kondo called out, running the rest of the way up the hill to them. “Are you both alright?”

“Depends on your definition of ‘alright’,” Gintoki said, leaning gratefully on Hijikata. “Listen, Kondo, we have really got to talk about the security measures in this city…”

“Sure, sure, of course.” Kondo grinned. “I’m just so glad to see you both. Otae-san’s been worried too, I’m sure she’ll be glad to see you.”

“We’ll have to tell Katsura-san, too, Gin-san. He helped us a lot while you were gone.”

“Alright, whatever, just, would someone _please_ get me a parfait first?”

“Hey, walk properly or I’m leaving you here.”

“My sugar levels have reached critical, Toshirou, have some pity here…”

They gathered their possessions from the shuttle, thanked Mutsu one last time, and started down the hill back towards Edo, chattering happily amongst themselves. Hijikata never would have admitted it, but he had really missed Kondo and Okita, and he was extremely glad to see them again.

Or at least he was, until Okita walked up to Kagura and pretended to whisper to her behind his hand, “so, are they together now or what?”

“Oi, Sougo!”

“Not yet,” Kagura said, shifting the box of Aldaris’ documents and other stuff to her other hand so she could pretend to whisper back. “But it’s only a matter of time, if you ask me.”

“Kagura, cut that out!”

“Why, I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about, Gin-chan!”

Hijikata glanced quickly at Gintoki, then just as quickly away again. It was enough for him to see the slight pink tinge in Gintoki’s cheeks, and to realize that he was probably blushing too.

Well, shit. What right did those stupid kids have to get him riled up like that? Especially since he didn’t even like Gintoki that way.

Wait. _Did_ he?

Wait.

_Shit._

 

It took time to adjust to a normal life again. More time than either of them would have liked. But they did adjust. With the help of their friends and each other, they got back on their feet and they moved forward.

Hijikata’s work kept him busy, but he spent most of his free time with Gintoki. Sometimes at the Yorozuya’s apartment, sometimes out at a restaurant or bar somewhere. Gintoki even came to visit him in the Shinsengumi barracks a few times, when he was too busy to even take the time to travel.

Over time Hijikata’s feelings about the silver-haired samurai became more and more confused. The thought of Gintoki potentially becoming more than just a friend had never even crossed his mind until Okita brought it up. There had been too much else to think about.

But now he had thought about it once, he couldn’t seem to stop. He didn’t know how he felt, and he couldn’t figure out why he didn’t know, and he had absolutely no idea how Gintoki felt about all this. It was all just a huge mess, and Hijikata tried not to dwell on it.

On their one-month anniversary of being back on Earth, they decided to treat themselves. They went out to a really nice restaurant, they ate some expensive food, and they drank some very nice alcohol. They laughed at everything, and didn’t leave the restaurant until almost closing. By then the sun had long-since set, the streetlights had come on, and both of them were not a little tipsy.

“Ok, ok, ok,” Gintoki said as they neared the glowing sign above Otose’s snack bar, “this has been great and all, but I’m afraid I gotta leave you here. This, right here, is my stop. The time has come!”

Hijikata chuckled. “We should do this again sometime.”

“Damn straight we should. Thank you for the police escort home, officer.”

“Hah, sure thing.” Hijikata started to turn away, knowing he’d get a scolding from Kondo if he came back too late. “We’re still on for next week, right?”

“Hey Toshirou…come here for a second.”

Hijikata turned back, and Gintoki stepped in close to him, hesitantly reaching out and putting a hand on his arm.

“Gintoki…?”

“Kiss me.” It sounded somehow like a mix between a question, a command, and a plea.

Hijikata’s heart hammered in his chest, so hard it almost hurt. Gintoki wasn’t joking, Hijikata could see it in his eyes. He was really close, close enough to see what he was doing to Hijikata, surely, staring at him with those eyes of his, those deep, red, beautiful eyes… 

Hijikata kissed him. 

He was awkward as hell, and he knew Gintoki could tell, but in that moment it didn’t matter. They stood there on the street and kissed until both of them were panting for breath.

“So,” Hijikata mumbled when he was sane enough to speak again, “w-what…what now?”

“I don’t know,” Gintoki said breathlessly. “I did not think this far ahead...can we just, can we keep doing what we’ve been doing?”

“Yes.”

“And figure out if there’s, I mean, if there’s really something to this later?”

“Yes. Yes, of course.”

“Ok.” Gintoki grinned at him and Hijikata almost had a heart attack. “Goodnight, Toshirou.”

“Goodnight, Gintoki.”

 

Two weeks later, Gintoki woke up to sunlight streaming through his window and Hijikata’s arm around his waist, and he knew that the ‘something’ they had wasn’t about to go away anytime soon.

They’d been laying on the futon the previous night, just talking and enjoying being alone together for once. Apparently they’d drifted off at some point, and had fallen asleep without even setting a morning alarm first.

The proper thing to do would have been to wake Hijikata up and send him on his way to the Shinsengumi. But he looked so peaceful, with his head against Gintoki’s chest and his hair in his face that Gintoki couldn’t bring himself to rouse him.

So instead he just laid there, listening to Hijikata breathe and thinking of how he’d deal with it if Kondo got mad at them later.

After a few minutes, though, Hijikata began to stir. Eventually he opened his eyes and blinked blearily up at Gintoki.

“Good morning, Toshirou.”

“...What time is it?”

“Like eleven. Do you have work?”

“Mmmmm, not til later.” Hijikata shifted against Gintoki, stretching and yawning. “‘S late though. We should probably get up.”

Gintoki groaned and held Hijikata closer. “Noooooo, not yet. Stay here.”

“We can’t just lay here all day, Gintoki.”

“I know. But I think we deserve to sleep in a little, don’t you?”

“Ok, ok, fine. Stop clinging to me, look, I’m not getting up.”

Gintoki grinned at the exasperated look on Hijikata’s face. “Toshirou, I think I’m in love with you.”

Hijikata blinked in surprise, but then smiled shyly and buried his face in Gintoki’s chest again. “I love you too,” he said quietly, and Gintoki’s stomach turned somersaults.

“Skip work. Let’s stay here all day.”

“I can’t. You know that.”

“Tell Kondo you’re calling in sick.”

“I can’t!” Hijikata laughed, his breath warm and ticklish against Gintoki’s skin. “But I have a free weekend coming up. We can do this again then.”

“Ok.”

“God, Gintoki, if this becomes a regular thing, we’re never going to hear the end of it from Sougo…”

“Hey, what do you mean ‘if’?!”

“Oh be quiet. I mean it though, he’s never going to let me live this down. Your kids are going to be just as bad. Fuck, I can’t think of a single person we know that isn’t going to have something to say about this…”

“It’s worth it.”

“You mean that?”

“Yes. But if you don’t want it, we don’t have to tell anyone.”

“...No, it’s ok. I think it would be worth it. I love you.”

Gintoki closed his eyes and squeezed Hijikata a little tighter. “I love you too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~The End~
> 
> Hey everybody, I can't thank you enough for reading this fic! I hope you had as much fun reading it as I did writing it, haha. It ended up being a lot longer than originally planned, but I don't think that's a bad thing. Honestly the fact that some of you stuck around through all 15 chapters blows my mind. I love and appreciate all of you so, so much!
> 
> There will be an Author's Ending to this one. It'll contain things like tidbits about my writing process, thoughts about where this story might hypothetically have gone if it continued, and some general opinions about everything because I like to talk. Don't feel obligated to read it if you're not interested in that kind of thing, but if you are, it'll be posted probably sometime tomorrow.
> 
> Thanks again!!!


	16. (Author's Ending)

Hellllooooooo, everybody. It is I, the mysterious internet blogger and writer extraordinaire, M! (There's nothing mysterious or extraordinary about me, it just sounds cool if I say it like that.)

Thank you for reading my work, it means a lot to me. Remember that this isn't exactly a continuation of the story, the actual fic is over. Here in this 'chapter' I'm just gonna talk a little bit about this and that, share some of my thoughts with whoever wants to read them. Let's get started, shall we?

**Some questions no one has ever asked me, but that I'm answering anyway:**

Q: Where did you originally get the idea for this fic?

A: I wanted to see Gintoki and Hijikata in a relationship that they could feel comfortable being open about. But this is Gin and Hiji we're talking about, it would take something pretty drastic to make them feel that way. And I thought the best way to accomplish that would be to put them in a situation that forced them to rely solely on each other. Really I just wanted them to get to know each other better, and for their feelings for each other to develop naturally. You get me?

Q: So, why space? Was that really necessary?

A: Nope! I think I mentioned before that one of the things I drew inspiration from was Planet Hulk, which does not take place on Earth. But in all honesty, I just really, really like space. Before deciding to pursue music, I even considered studying astrophysics (I'm actually glad I didn't do that, but I still fantasize about it sometimes). I read a lot of sci-fi, too, so it's familiar and easy for me to write.

Q: You know Gin and Hiji aren't actually bad at hand-to-hand combat, right? Why did they get injured so much?

A: (Ok, someone actually did ask me this, on tumblr. I just thought I'd clear it up for everyone over here too.) The whole thing about Aldaris and the other slavers is that they're only interested in slaves that are already prolific in combat. Like, someone could kidnap me, a musician, and throw me into a gladiator ring, but I wouldn't put up much of a fight, would I? Not very entertaining. What that means is that everyone Gin and Hiji fought with was around the same level as them. That was my thought process, hope it makes some sense.

Q: What's up with the weird chapter titles?

A: I tried to do something similar to the episode titles, but I'm not very good at it. Sometimes I google "sayings about ___" until I get a good idea. "Those Who Fear Are Lost" is a lyric from Shape of My Heart by Sting, which I think is a very Kabukichou song in general. Some of 'em are completely made up (those would be the bad ones).

Q: Why do you keep referring to Gintoki as 'the silver-haired samurai'?

A: I think it sounds pretty.

Q: It seems like you wrote more scenes from Hijikata's perspective than anyone else's. Why?

A: Uuuuhhhhh, I tried to split the scenes evenly, but what can I say. As much as I adore Gintoki, Hiji is my favorite. I'm not infallible, you know.

Q: So Hijikata is your favorite Gintama character?

A: Overall, Hiji and Katsura are co-favorites. I also really love Saitou and Tetsuko

Q: The last chapter seemed really rushed

A: Fun fact, I only planned to write up to the point where they got back to Earth. But 1) I would probably have been lynched by angry readers if I stopped it there and 2) as much as I wanted to leave it up to the reader's imagination, I did really like the scene with them saying 'I love you' for the first time. Sorry if it seemed rushed, I did my best

**Writing advice, from someone who is not and probably never will be a professional writer**

-It is totally possible to write and publish stuff even if you're not a pro! I've been doing it for like a year now, and I don't plan to stop. It's that hard. You have as much right to share your opinions as anyone else!

-It helps to read often. I know that's not something everyone can do, since we're all busy all the time, but get in the habit of at least thinking at the level that you want your writing to sound like. If all you don't incorporate higher vocabulary and complex ideas into your everyday thought process, it's not going to sound legit when you write about it. Not that there's anything wrong with writing that uses exclusively simple vocab and plots, but there's plenty of it out there already. If you want to stand out, go for quality. 

-Sometimes it helps to have a beta reader, but it's not 100% necessary. No one beta read this for me. But I have madd, so the vast majority of the story was right there in my head whenever I looked at it. In fact, I hardly ever edit any of these chapters before posting them...don't be like me. I'm a bad example. Talk about your work as often as possible with others. Got no friends who want to beta for you? Hit me up, dude. I've got your back.

-Interact! With! Your! Readers! As! Much! As! Possible!

-Take inspiration from everything around you. It's not 'cheating.' It's not 'unoriginal.' Look at Christopher Paolini's Eragon books, that series is basically a giant plagiarism of LOTR, but no one calls him out for it. In fact, it's super popular! (I'm a lil salty about that particular example) Include multiple influences in a single story if you feel like it. Sky's the limit, dudes

-Fact check. It's not a good feeling to be called out by a reader for forgetting something that happened in canon. Also, if you're going to write about something you don't know about (ex. me, who has never even tasted alcohol, writing about characters getting drunk), do your research. It'll help, I promise. Just be sure to delete your internet history afterwards.

**Let's talk some more about aliens**

One thing you guys should understand about me; I was into Star Wars before I had ever heard of anime. Not just the movies, but the books and the video games and the comics. I'd sit down with my family and have hours-long arguments about the minutest plot details. I care more about Star Wars (specifically the EU) than any other fandom I have ever or will ever be in. 

So. There's a couple different challenges to consider when writing aliens (or amanto, as they're called in Gintama). I took my cues from the show for most of what I wrote in this fic, so if you have a problem with any of it, don't blame me, blame the creators. Here's a list of some things you gotta think about before writing aliens:

1) Humanoid or nonhumanoid? Every species is going to be a little different, of course, since they come from different environments and such. If you write humanoids (essentially bipedals with one or more sets of secondary limbs), you're assuming that humanoid is the optimal form of evolution, and that every dominant species will evolve into this general shape regardless of environment/outside influence.

2) Sentient or nah? Typically humanoid shapes and sentience go together, but there's no rule that says they have to. If you decide to have a sentient species, you then have to decide their level of intelligence- are they still basically cavemen, or have they reached our level? Maybe they're even beyond us? This is a big choice. Middle Ages Europe-level aliens probably do not have the capacity for space travel, and hyper-intelligent alien civilizations probably do not devote time to low level tasks like making their own food. Every case is different, of course, just be logical about it.

3) Passive, neutral, or active intentions? Oh boy, we just discovered alien life! How do we go about interacting with them? This question is focused more on individual characters or organizations, but it's also important. If they just want to observe and let the alien civilization develop on its own (the Prime Directive), that's passive, and the aliens usually aren't even aware they're being observed. If they want to interact to develop friendly relations and/or trade routes, etc, that's neutral. Unless both species agree to be neutral, it won't work, it has to be mutual. You're only interested in conquest and subjugation of other species? That's active, and it forces the other species to have an equally active response or be conquered or subjugated.

4) How do you get over the language barrier? Unless you or the aliens you're trying to talk to invents a fool-proof translator, there's going to be a language barrier. Heck, we have plenty of those just on Earth, it makes _no sense_ not to have it between planets. If you decide to ignore this problem and just say 'oh look, they can magically understand each other', just be prepared to be made fun of for that. Even if they can understand each other, things like local idioms and sayings are not going to translate well, so make sure you think about that too.

Sorry for getting kinda off topic, I just have a lot of thoughts about this kind of thing. Hope someone found it interesting =_=

**Tying up some loose ends**

What happened to Aldaris you say? I dunno. Probably he was killed by those slaves, beaten to death. Even if he escaped, I don't think it's likely he would have lived long on his own on a strange planet. He was kind of a wimp, really. But! Maybe he was rescued by an ally, just like our boys. Maybe he's still out there, plotting his revenge (dun dun dun!).

What happened to Jaiya? Ok this one I actually thought about some. She goes back to her village stronger even than when she left, and she's basically unstoppable. Remember that box that Kagura and Shinpachi found, with Gin and Hiji's swords in it? Her claws were in there too, so she got them back after all. By 'claws,' I mean a pair of gloves she wears that have sharp claws attached to them that she uses as her primary weapons. Kinda like a cross between the Wolverine's claws and Nepeta Leijon's strife specibus.

Anyway, tales of her adventures begin to spread, and she gets recruited to a small rebellion that aims to overthrow the corrupt govt on her planet. When they eventually do, the new king appoints her as captain of his guards and his most trusted adviser : )

As for Gin and Hiji, I think they slowly start being more and more open about their relationship. You guys already heard about their first kiss and their first 'I love you'. But, the first time they held hands in public? In a grocery store, and Gintoki only grabbed Hijikata's hand because Katsura walked in and Hijikata's police instincts kicked in. "No, babe, stop that, you know without him you would still be on that ship, we're surrounded by people, for crying out loud, Toshirou." First kiss in public? Some girls were staring at Gintoki and it made Hijikata jealous.

I ended the fic where I did because I wanted it to be, well, not maybe canon compliant, but at least realistic. But if you want to know what I really want, even if it's not realistic in the slightest...I want Hijikata to spend more and more time with the Yorozuya, especially as it gets colder and he can just chill with them under the kotatsu. I want Kagura to say "why don't you just move in already?!" over dinner one night and both Gin and Hiji to spit out their drinks. Shinpachi agrees, and the kids argue the point until the adults promise that they'll at least give it a try. So they do, and Hijikata doesn't get fired, and no one sends them hate mail or throws rocks at their windows and they're like ??? Maybe no one actually cares that much if we live together??? So they do. Big happy family.

I once had a dream that Gin and Hiji got married, and they got their rings tattooed so they could never lose them. So, yeah. Just throwing that out there.

Kondo would be totally chill with their relationship. Okita would be Okita about it, like always. Sa-chan would clumsily try to have Hijikata assassinated. Otae would cook for them, as a kind of housewarming gift. Katsura and Hijikata would be forced to call a temporary truce as long as Gin was around. Everyone would have their own opinions about it, just as you'd expect they would.

Feel free to ask me any questions you may have; I'll answer em best I can, but I do think at least some of this should be left up to your particular interpretation

**Ya want music recommendations? I got music recommendations.**

Like I already mentioned somewhere in here, I have madd. Mine is particularly related to music, since that's what I do, I'm a musician. Here's a list of some songs I heard at some point and my brain said, "that! that's HijiGin!" with links:

Kidding Ourselves by Stabilo ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m47msn9s8pI )

All About Your Heart by Mindy Gledhill ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2y4jSkOVgbI )

Unsteady by X Ambassadors ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFjryf8zH_M )

Human by Gabrielle Aplin ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=id_k_uNUud8 )

Tell Her You Love Her by Echosmith ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7OnNc7ZJUI )

The Permanent Rain by The Dangerous Summer ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBX1Fn-RDCY )

You may notice that most of these songs have kind of a soft aesthetic to them. There's a reason for that. It's because I like soft HijiGin, that's the reason.

If you've got one to recommend to me, drop a comment! I'll definitely listen to it, I love learning new music!

**So what can you do to support me and make sure I keep writing?**

Just keep reading my work, that's good enough for me! If you like it, maybe leave me some kudos or a nice comment. If you don't like it, leave a comment with some constructive criticism, I'll take it!

I've got some other Gintama works already published, among other series, you could go read those too.

Hit me up on tumblr, if you want to message me, send me an ask, or follow me to get notifications when I write something new. 

I'm open to taking writing requests, if you got one. I can't guarantee I'll write it, but I'll at least consider it, and if I do write it I'll post it to tumblr or over here, if it's long enough.

Want to really make my day? Draw me something or write something based on my work. I'd die for you.

That's all for now, folks! Thanks again for reading, I hope you all have a great day and I love all of you!!!


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